Fate
by xxSoRixx
Summary: Some say that fate has a face. In this case, it does; specifically Terra's. Stuck with duties he can't refuse, he has to prevent Sora from harbouring feelings for Riku and instead make Sora fall for another... But it's never that clear cut, is it? RiSo
1. Prologue

_A/N:__ Well, here's my first fanfic for KH. xO SHOCKING. I somehow had the idea whilst listening to a song. This is merely the prologue but I hope that you readers will find it intriguing. It's a little long for a prologue, I admit, but it was initially longer and all. Do read and review! _

**Prologue**

I felt my body crash onto a soft surface, my cheek rubbing against it. It smelt like land. I felt like it had been a long time since I've smelt or felt something like this—almost like it was an eternity. I could sense that there was brightness through my shut eyelids. My body instantly felt light, a sudden wave of gentle energy rushed through and there was warmth bathing my skin. Where was I?

"Terra," I heard. It was a soft, soothing voice which sounded like it belonged to a woman.

As if it were a reflex, my hands twitched and my eye lids lifted. I saw a grass field. I supported my body, rose from the ground and stood up slowly. With one glance, I could tell it was definitely no normal place. The grass was long; touching the bottom of my legs calves, and was cream-coloured—an unordinary colour for grass. The skies were a normal blue though. The one thing that made it all bizarrely beautiful was that the entire field seemed to be bathed in a warm light which was not strong, not harmful. The light was so pure, so majestic, that unlike sunlight, one wouldn't have to squint when looking at it. After taking in the overwhelming view around me I finally turned my attention to the sight in front of me. There was a figure, standing there.

It was indeed, a woman. She had curly brown hair which was tied into a plait, a pink ribbon attached. She was wearing a white, sleeveless gown which fell all the way to her feet, the cream-coloured grass gently breezing around it. But the one thing which drew my attention was her eyes—bright, jade gems.

That, and her glowing body. Wait… The fuck—?_ Glowing?_

"Terra," she called again.

"Huh?" I answered unintelligently.

However, she seemed unfazed. She merely smiled again and walked two steps closer before calling the name once more. "Terra." This time, she didn't wait for another reply. "Welcome to the Land of the Between." I stared at her for a moment before realising she was being serious here.

Here I am, dropping out of no where to find a weirdly named world and glowing people "What?" I breathe, puzzled.

She smiled sympathetically at me before turning serious again. She took a deep breath before continuing. "Terra, what I have to tell you may be confusing but I assure you that I am not joking," she said softly as she studied me cautiously. "The people who are brought to this land are no longer alive." There was silence between us as I stared at her, not knowing what to think. She spoke again, this time her voice much softer.

"You have died," she said.

I was…Dead?

Shock ran though my body once I had processed what she had said. I looked down at my body, half expecting it to be semi-transparent—it wasn't. A sinking feeling invaded my chest, fear cornering me. I inhaled sharply and shut my eyes for a moment to think, perhaps calm myself. As time went by, I realised that the news didn't seem to really disturb me. Just the initial shock. Something told me I had already been prepared for death. No, somehow, it felt like I had been waiting for it… For a very long time… I shook my head, dismissing the thought for I didn't know what to think of it. After a brief pause I exhaled and nodded unsurely, showing her that I accepted the situation. She seemed a little bewildered. Perhaps she wasn't used to getting this sort of reaction.

"You're not dreaming," she said, her perfect eyebrows furrowing slightly. I nodded again, this time, less hesitant. She sighed slightly—was that relief? "I'm glad you understand your situation," she said quietly. She gazed at me for a few moments before standing beside me and turning around to face the same direction as I did, staring at the skies. Silence is among us until she passes me a question. "Do you know why people go to The Land of the Between after death, Terra?" she asked.

"No," I replied, a little surprised that my tone was unintentionally mimicking her soft one. "Never heard of it," I turned to look at her. Her eyes didn't meet mine.

"Humans, there are so many kinds. Each and every person dies differently. There are some who die a peaceful death, some who are killed, some who are tortured, some who commit suicide…" she trails off. Her jade eyes finally look at me and she continued. "And some who die because they don't try hard enough to live on." A gust of wind blew past, causing the locks of hair on her shoulder to move. "I'm sure you've heard of angels and devils, have you not?"

"Yeah," I said.

"They exist," she explained. "I, for one, am what humans call an angel." The two corners of her lips rose again. "I do perceive that it is a little late for introductions, but I am the angel, Aerith." I nodded in response. And angel… That probably explained why she was glowing. "Back to how humans die; those who commit suicide, no matter how pure or how many good deeds they've done, they will go to hell. The rest depends on how you've behaved whilst human." She inhaled, taking a deep breath as if giving a dramatic effect to the next piece of information she was about to unfold. "There is, however, a special case."

"A special case?" I asked.

She shot me another sympathetic glance. "Yes," she murmured and she looked at the skies once more. "A case of which a human could have lived if he or she had strived harder to live. If they don't, then, they die. Humans who die like that do _not_ go to hell but they do get a small punishment for not trying hard enough. They are given a task to do on earth." She then turned her green eyes to me and said in a soft, calm tone, "You, Terra, are one of the special cases."

So she said, but now that I thought about it, how _had _I died? By the sounds of it, doesn't seem like it was a very noble death. "I don't know how I died." I bit my bottom lip. "I can't remember," I admitted.

"I _am_ afraid that that is no excuse," she sniffed softly. "Those even without memory, as long as they have done wrong, they are still to atone for it."

"Makes sense, I guess," I said whilst rubbing the back of my neck. "What's my task, Aerith?"

"Your task," she murmured, "is to guide a human boy into falling in love with another girl."

"Alright…" I said hesitantly.

Aerith gave a small smile. "I do apologise Terra. That is not the main task. Whilst trying to make him fall for the girl, he should be developing interrupting feelings for another boy. You must prevent them—him and the other boy—from ever getting _together_. God wills it."

"Great," I scoffed. "He's gay? I'm supposed to make a gay guy turn straight?"

Aerith ignored my question. "The task might be rather difficult but I assure you it is much better than going to hell, Terra."

Fair enough.

"Your target's name is Sora. The human girl is called Kairi, a girl of which he is acquainted with... And the boy you are to prevent him from being a couple with is Riku, his best friend. You are _not _to allow them to have mutual feelings, Terra. I'll explain to you how this works."

"O…Kay," I replied.

"You will be sent down to earth as a spirit, the form you are in now. You are to watch over Sora and complete the task I told you about earlier. Do you understand?"

"So far so good." I hoped.

"Humans will be unable to see you, Terra. As Sora's 'guardian' you will have the power to control his emotions at times and guide him to fall for Kairi. You are going to have to try your best to complete this task. If you have any questions, feel free to ask now. I may not be able to contact you very often once you are on Earth."

"Control his emotions…," I mumbled to myself. What the fuck? "This is a lot to take in…" I sighed. I'd figure it out later. "What happens after the task?" I asked.

"You will go to heaven," she said with a smile. "The rest, I am afraid that you will have to find out by yourself."

"If I don't complete the task?" I asked.

Her face grew instantly serious. "You'll disappear," she said coldly, making the hairs on my back stand despite the calming environment. Something told me that I really didn't want to know what she meant by that. That just meant that I had to get this task done. And I would. Aerith shut her eyes for a moment and exhaled. When she looked at me again, her face was calm and another warm smile was plastered on it.

I shot another glance around my surroundings before asking my next question. "Are we in heaven right now or something?"

The angel gave a soft hum which sounded like an odd laugh. "No, Terra. We're in a universe between heaven and hell. Thus the name, The Land of The Between."

Corny.

My mental insults aside, I wondered if I should question as to how long I had been dead for. Didn't seem like a pleasant question but it was a little intriguing to know. In the end, curiosity got the better of me. Aerith seemed a little shocked when I asked. I guessed that not many spirits really wanted to know such a thing.

"It has been 10 years," she said gravely. "I am not to give out details of your death; those were my orders. I'm terribly sorry." I shrugged to show her it was alright. Admittedly, hearing that I had died a decade ago made something in my gut feel funny. "You were in the darkness for a long time, Terra," she explained. "I haven't been told why you are being summoned now after all this time but I do think that perhaps god decided that you were the one best soul for this task."

Huh. So I was specially chosen for this job… Weird.

I had much more to ask but I decided that I'd much rather just go and figure things out by myself. Even though I could accept the situation, it didn't mean I was ever going to be completely mentally ready for such an abnormal mission no matter how many questions I asked. So in the end, I settled with one more. "One last question," I said, giving her my first grin.

"Yes, Terra?"

"Just curious, but beings like you are called angels and devils are, well, devils. For spirits with these special tasks, do we have a special name too?"

Aerith walked a little further from me until she was standing in the position of which I first saw her at and she spun around gracefully to face me. "Angels and devils are merely names the humans have given us," she said. "She hummed and pondered over my question for a moment. "In a way, humans _have_ named spirits like you. Except it seems like they are unaware that you all are spirits. They think that spirits with tasks like you are some imaginary force driving them to do something or to meet someone and such." Aerith gave another sweet smile. "If it's a name the humans have given you, then I suppose Terra it's… Fate."

"You are Sora's fate."

_And? Got a little motivation to continue reading it? xD Let me know what you think and whether or not I should continue. This is merely the beginning, mind you, and there shall be more explanations as the story continues. Feel free to ask questions, though. _


	2. Chapter 1

_Here's officially the first chapter! If there are any of you readers skipping the prologue, I highly recommend you read it so that you'll be able to comprehend what is going on throughout the story later on. I hope that you will all enjoy this chapter! _

_The pairings _are_ in fact, SoraxRiku._

**Mundane**

On Destiny Islands, a tranquil and beautiful piece of land, almost anyone knew everyone—perhaps not personally, but everyone had always heard of others. It was a small town, one of which had only two high schools and families who had known each other for a long time. Everyone was polite—even if they didn't know each other personally, they'd know which family they belonged to and the names of one another. A smile, a 'hello' or a nod was always exchanged by the residents of the peaceful island almost as if it were a silent rule no one chose to break. It consisted of mostly kind people and was considered a sanctuary to those who lived on it. And a few of those who lived on it were three humans who were about to go through a fateful destiny they were completely unaware of. Those of who were named—Sora, Riku and Kairi.

Along the streets of a residential area, a brunette with cinnamon-coloured spikes walked in his uniform, his bag dangling behind his back, being supported by his crossed arms which were being purposed for his head to lean on whilst he hummed a joyful tune to himself. Right beside him was a boy who was taller and more muscular than him in the exact same uniform, his bag slung over his shoulders and his silver hair swaying in the soothing, yet cold breeze. It was another mundane day for the two humans who were on their way back from high school of which they attended together. Being best friends, they were extremely tight despite the age difference between them which prevented them from being in the same year and had made it a routine to walk back from school together all the time. Today, for them, was just a repeat of their daily routine.

"Hey, dude, do you mind helping me out with my homework today?" the brunette asked, cutting off his happy tune he was humming.

The taller boy beside him gave off a chuckle. "Again, Sora? I'd think I might have to start charging you for all this help I'm giving you."

"Aw, shut up Riku," the younger boy sulked. "I can't help it if I'm not good in Maths and you being the genius in everything."

Riku chuckled again and ruffled Sora's brown spikes. "Calling me a genius is overrating me, Sora," he said. "You're just an idiot," he added with a mischievous grin. The brunette huffed, annoyed, and lightly kicked his best friend's leg to show his anger but that merely made the older boy chuckle more.

"In maths only," the brunette muttered under his breath.

Riku gave another sly grin as he leaned close to Sora's face. "So you admit it, eh?" Sora's blue eyes shifted and met with Riku's sea green ones. Subconsciously noticing the proximity, the brunette's cheeks went rosy and his eyes widened. Unintentionally, he pushed Riku's head away with his hand, causing the older boy to topple backwards onto the ground, landing on his back with a thud. Sora just stared in shock, not knowing why he had done that.

The boy with silver hair, on the other hand, got up from the ground and rubbed his back with his hand. "Damn," he said, wincing slightly. "What the hell, Sora?"

Still stunned, the brunette didn't answer.

"Sora," Riku called, his eyebrows furrowing slightly as he observed his best friend. "Hey, Sora," he called again, this time ruffling the boy's hair.

The brunette blinked, looking as if he had just gotten out of a trance. "Huh? Oh, uh, sorry Riku. Don't know what I was doing," Sora replied, being completely honest. He furrowed his, pondering over why had behaved so oddly. Riku studied his best friend who had gone silent for a moment before sighing. The senior flicked Sora's forehead, causing the younger boy to flinch.

"Ow!" he yelped. "Hey! What do you think you're doing?" Sora yelled.

The silver-haired boy just shrugged. "Stop thinking, your brain cells will get tired—with the amount you have," he teased. Sora grimaced and playfully punched his best friend's shoulder. Riku chuckled lightly in response. "Anyways, you want me to help you with your homework, right? Your place or mine?"

Instantly, Sora perked up, forgetting the insulting remark the senior had given him. "Yours!" he yelled excitedly. Riku smiled, instantly knowing why Sora had chosen his crib.

"Video games only _after _we're done with the homework, Sora," he warned. Riku and Sora shared a gaming device—the PS3—of which they had split the price. Riku, having paid more for it was given to keep it and they always paid for the games separately even though they'd end up playing it together anyways. Riku also always beat Sora in most of the games and according to Sora, it was only because Riku had the game console in his house and therefore could play much more than the brunette could. In reality, the silver-haired boy rarely played with the game console unless Sora was there to play with him but he found it rather amusing how his best friend was always so insistent on coming over to his place so he'd decided to just keep it there rather than letting Sora take it instead.

The male brunette gave a grin. "I know, I know. Good thing I don't have much homework today."

Riku gave him a smile. "Neither do I."

xooooxoooooxoooox

It took them an hour and a half to both of them to complete their homework with a tea break in between, prepared by Riku who had already finished in 30 minutes. Once they were done, Sora eagerly placed himself on Riku's bean bag whilst the other boy settled himself to sit cross-legged on the carpeted floor. They had decided on an online battlefield game which enabled both of them to play on a server separately—and obviously, with the rivalry they shared, they chose separate teams.

"Damn it!" Sora yelled at the end of their first game. "Your team won," he said, grimacing, "_again_."

Riku chuckled at his best friend's behaviour. "It's a team thing, don't worry about it."

The brunette rolled his eyes. "Yeah, but _as usual_, you were the one who got most of the scores." Riku shrugged. What was he supposed to do if he had a knack with games? "Only 'cause you get to practise playing all the time," Sora muttered under his breath. Riku heard him but just smiled amusedly to himself. He never did bother practising.

"Your team mate was pretty good," Riku pointed out. Sora turned to look at him.

"Yeah? Which one?"

"The user 'Machins'. Killed me at least twice."

The brunette stared at the results displayed on the screen and then frowned, unsatisfied. He'd only manage to kill Riku _once_ in this battle. "Argh," Sora groaned and leaned back in the bean bag, stretching his arms. "When the hell am I ever going to beat you, Riku?" The silver-haired boy just shrugged his shoulders and placed down his controller. Sora turned in the chair so that his body faced Riku's whilst he lay in the bag. "Maybe I should come over to practise more often," he said grinning.

"I should probably start entry charge for my room," Riku replied, returning the grin.

"Hey! No fair!" Sora frowned and reached out to punch Riku's arm playfully, a punch of which Riku easily evaded. "I paid for that game device too, you know!"

Riku laughed at his friend's childish response. "I know, I know, I'm joking, Sora. If I actually did that you'd probably come break into my house at night."

Sora grinned. "Perhaps I'd accidentally run into your dad, knowing he always comes back pretty damn late." Then his grin dropped. "Sometimes not at all for a few days," he added bitterly.

His best friend just gave him an assuring smile. "Hey, I'm used to it already—don't worry," Riku murmured. "He works and gets money—also keeps his mind off the past. Probably needs to since he's been doing it all these years."

"Screw the past," Sora spat. The older boy sighed. His father had become a work addict after his mother had died eight years ago and in Sora's words, he had neglected Riku in the process. The brunette always got bitter when his dad was ever mentioned—something Riku didn't really like; seeing Sora upset. Riku leaned towards the bean bag and nudged Sora's head.

"Touchy," he smirked. "Don't get so uptight, silly."

"Wha—hey! Riku!" Sora yelped, trying to get his head away from the wrath of his best friend's knuckles. With much struggling, the brunette accidentally kicked himself out of the bean bag, rolling sideways on top of Riku, bumping his head with the other. They both groaned in pain. Sora clenched his eyes shut and rubbed his fore head gingerly, trying to soothe it. He then placed his hands on to the ground and lifted himself, his knees and hands on the floor. When he opened his eyes, however, he found himself in an unlikely position.

He was hovering over Riku, his hands on opposite sides of the older boy's head and his knees on opposite sides of Riku's body. The one thing that froze him completely was that the boy under him was staring at him with beautiful, glazed sea green eyes that held an unreadable expression. As if being sucked in, he found himself entranced and unable to look away. They both stared at each other for a long time, as if they were gazing each other's souls silently. Both of them were still, only hearing the sounds from the game, and it seemed as if nothing in the world could interrupt their mutual staring.

Except for the ringing of a hand phone.

It was Riku's. The phone in his pocket vibrated, making him twitch slightly in response. Sora shifted as well, but didn't say or get of him until Riku gave off a laugh. "You can get off me now, Sora," he chuckled; amused at the peculiar situation they were in. Like he was struck, Sora immediately scrambled off the older boy and rushed to cosy himself in the comfort of the bean bag chair, his face feeling a little warm. He shifted uncomfortably as he tried to calm himself, confused of his reaction to the situation earlier. Why hadn't he just laughed it off like usual? Why hadn't he gotten off Riku _immediately_ rather than stare at those gem-like eyes? Questions spun in his head and he had no answer to any of them.

Riku, on the other hand, had fished his phone out of his jeans pocket and was clicking on the answer button. "Alice?" he asked. Sora's eyes darkened at the sound of her name. "Hey, wait, give me a sec," he said before mouthing at Sora 'Sorry, I'll just be a minute' and exiting the room.

The brunette relaxed in the bean bag chair and waited patiently. It would probably take at least 5 minutes, he thought. After all, Alice was Riku's girlfriend. They'd have things to talk about. It wasn't as if Sora didn't like the blonde-haired girl. If anything, he found her extremely nice albeit weird sometimes. She was extremely pretty, Sora never expected less of his best friend, and seemed to like Riku a whole lot. There were times Sora thought that Riku treated her unfairly such as choosing not to see her and just relaxing at his place alone instead. It seemed to Sora that Alice was very patient with her boyfriend and was really kind to both of them. She never did complain that much and treated Riku well. How could Sora think badly of that? He of course couldn't help but think she _was_ quite odd. After all, who ever thought of drinking a potion to shrink and entering a tiny door to a world with a dragon called the Jabberwocky? Even _if_ it were a few years ago when she had the thought, he still found it weird.

Sora's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the door opening and he saw Riku coming through it. He was still on the phone. "Today?" Sora heard his best friend say. Riku glanced at Sora for a moment before continuing his conversation. Sora merely looked at him confusedly. "Uh, not today Alice, I'm a bit busy." The brunette heard a voice from the phone, coming out in a tone of complaint. That was rare, in Sora's opinion. He hardly ever heard Alice complaining. Perhaps she had had a bad day. "I know," Riku replied. "No, Alice, I'm not with another woman, geez." He sighed and glanced at Sora again. "I'll walk you back from school tomorrow, alright?" Before shutting his phone, Riku said "Mm, bye."

"Ace?" Sora asked. Ace was the nickname Sora had given Alice one day after school when the three of them were hanging out. He had mindlessly wondered what if he took the 'Li' out of 'Alice'. Much to Alice's initial protest, the brunette had gone on calling her Ace, something Alice found extremely random and weird. Not like Sora cared, though—he could be quite random at times anyways. And Alice was at least a ten times weirder.

Riku nodded before sitting on the ground again. "Yeah."

"What was that about?"

The silver-haired boy sighed. "Alice wants to come over—I told her no. She then went on about us not spending that much time together lately."

Sora jolted up from his comfortable position. "Hey, dude, I can go home you know."

"No, Sora, don't worry about it. I'll see her tomorrow."

"Really," the brunette insisted. He didn't want to be the reason for them to break up—that was, if they ever did. "I was going to head home soon anyways." He rose from the chair and started walking towards Riku's bed to get his bag. However, he felt his best friend hold his wrist, preventing him from walking away and turned to face him.

"Just stay, Sora," Riku gave an exasperated sigh. "I already told her no." The brunette stared at Riku with his blue eyes silently. He then rubbed the back of his head, took his phone out of his pocket and started dialling a number. "Sora?" Riku asked, wondering who he was calling.

"Hey Ace?" Sora mumbled. At the sound of Alice's name, Riku's eyes widened. "Yea, Riku said you can come now actually."

"Sora!" Riku hissed, gritting his teeth and narrowing his eyes at the brunette. His grip on Sora's hand tightened, indicating that the brunette should stop talking to Alice, but Sora just ignored him.

"Huh? Oh, no, he was just a bit cranky just now, don't worry about it," Sora laughed. Riku glared at him. "Nah, no woman here, just him and me." The brunette then yanked his hand out of Riku's and walked over to his bag. "Yeah, go for it, I'm going home now," he said as he placed his books in his bags. "No can do, Ace, I'm going back for today. Kay, see you another time." Once their conversation was over, Sora placed his phone back in his pocket and slung his back over his shoulder. He then turned to face Riku who looked displeased. "I'll see you then, Riku."

"Damn it, Sora," he sighed—he gave up on getting angry since it didn't seem like it was going to do him any good. "I told her 'no' so that I'd spend more time with you and you deliberately call her and tell her to come over. And now you're going back. Seriously, Sora, what the hell?"

"It's best you don't neglect your girlfriend too much," Sora advised, grinning. "Spend some time with her, I see you almost every day, you know. It's about time you share yourself with her too," he joked.

Riku shrugged. "It's more fun playing games with you," he stated. "Plus its fun teasing you," he added, a sly grin forming on his face. Sora laughed.

"Exactly why I'm leaving. Anyways I'll see you tomorrow, Riku," he said as he head downstairs, Riku trailing behind him.

"Fine. I can't walk back with you tomorrow though."

"I heard," Sora said with a cheerful grin. "Taking Ace, eh?" Riku shrugged again. "Right well, I'll see you," the brunette said as he exited Riku's front door. The silver-haired boy gave a wave and a half-assed smile before shutting the door.

When Sora got home, it was already seven. He greeted his mother who was in the kitchen preparing dinner before heading up to his room. He lay on his bed after switching on the lights, pondering over a few things that had been occurring lately. It wasn't like much had changed when he thought about it. Everything was more or less the same—it was probably him who was changing. They weren't major things or anything but he had been acting a little strangely around Riku recently. He found it weird, how after all these years, he was only starting to realise that his best friend had the most entrancing eyes he had ever seen. They were sea-green, yes; a rare colour for one to have and Sora had known this ever since he was a child. But what he couldn't comprehend was why he was only starting to realise its beauty now.

That wasn't just it. The brunette would find himself a little too conscious of Riku for his liking. Close proximities with their faces made him panic and feel flustered. Just like earlier when they were walking towards Riku's place and when he was practically on top of Riku. Again, he didn't understand why. Normally, wouldn't he have just laughed it off? Shrugged it off? Just think of it as another joke and punch Riku in the shoulder? He groaned and rolled to his side, burying his face in his hands. He didn't know anymore. It was confusing and sometimes he just didn't want to think about it.

But he eventually would end up doing so.

It wasn't like anything was different between them, he knew. It was him. Why was he changing? He wondered. And when had it all started? Perhaps it started this summer, a few months ago when Riku and him had gone to their old play island and were fooling around with Tidus and the others. Or maybe it was when Riku had gotten together with Alice a few months before summer had started. Sora was unsure. It just didn't make much sense to him. He didn't like it—being awkward around Riku. After all, they were best friends.

The brunette removed his hands from his face and stared up at the ceiling, exhaling a heavy sigh. He'd play a game to take his mind off things, he thought. However, the moment he reached for his laptop, he heard his mother call.

"Sora! Dinner's ready," she said from below. Sora replied, telling her that he was coming down. Well, dinner was distracting enough.

The brunette reached for his door to exit his room. Before he exited though, from the corner of his eye, he saw a figure standing at the corner of his room. He exited and paused for a moment.

_A… Person?_

He then leaned backwards, holding the edge of his door for support to take another glance at the uninvited figure. Only, the corner of his room was empty.

_Hmm… Maybe I'm imagining things;_ he thought and walked back out of his room unsurely. He shrugged it off and headed downstairs to get his dinner.

Once he laid his eyes on the dinner table, any unwanted thoughts and unnecessary anxiety had been washed away and the only thing on his mind was his appetite. The dining table was set up neatly, a vase placed at the centre of the table, daisies placed in them and three dinner plates arranged with forks and knives. Something that was rare in his household for they normally only ate Japanese cooking. But that meant one thing; his mother had cooked him his favourite—lasagne. And boy was he famished.

He excitedly got to his seat and sat down, waiting impatiently for his mother to bring the lasagne. He could already smell the heavenly food.

"Directly out from the oven!" she announced, carrying a large dish with her hands wrapped in oven gloves.

"Great!" Sora cheered, grinning. It always tasted better when hot. "Dad's coming back late tonight?" he asked, thinking that they should wait for his father. Dinner was always best with more people.

"Yes, he's working late tonight so he'll only be back later on. We'll eat first." His mother gave him a cheery smile and a wink, knowing her son's love for her lasagne. She then placed the dish onto the table carefully. Sora immediately got the large spoon to scoop out his share. "Watch it, it's hot," his mother warned. The brunette knew and he was careful. He had already burnt his fingers four times, trying to grab the burning hot dish before. He had finally learnt his lesson of not rushing too much after the fourth time he burnt his fingers, when they swelled up pretty badly. It took him at least a month to get them healed.

Once he had gotten a large piece of lasagne on his plate, he waited impatiently for his mother to get hers. He couldn't start without her—it was rude. Reina, Sora's mother, knew this and quickly got a piece on her plate, not wanting to delay her son from his momentary heaven.

"Ittadakimasu!" Sora said and dug in. "So... Good," he breathed after taking his first bite.

His mother laughed at him. "Chew, Sora." She didn't want him choking on it—of which he almost did, once. Reina remembered having to hit her own son hard on his back, trying to make him cough out the food that was lodged in his throat. She succeeded and Sora gagged out half a chicken wing. Her son was only eleven back then and she had to thoroughly explain to him that engulfing half a chicken wing was not rational and in addition, was unhealthy to practically shovel down his food. He had gotten the first part drilled into his mind due to nearly choking. The second, however, seemed to have been forgotten. Reina laughed quietly to herself at the memory.

Sora perked up at the sound of his mother's laugh and his attention was driven away from his food—but only for a moment. "What's up, mum?"

"Nothing," she murmured with a smile. "Just remembered something you did when you were younger."

"Yeah? What was that?" the brunette asked, putting another spoon of lasagne into his mouth.

His mother gave another amused, light laugh. "It was when you were eleven," she began and she told him the story of having to prevent him from choking. He laughed by the end of it, vaguely remembering.

"So that's why I'd always remind myself that chicken wings were impractically to swallow," he laughed. "I'd almost forgotten."

Reina smiled at her son. "You'd better not, Sora, or the next time I serve chicken I'll be having you dead at the dining table!"

Sora rolled his eyes. "Wouldn't you like that?" he joked, implying that his mother would have an easier time without him.

"Perhaps I will, young man," she said in a falsely stern voice, half laughing. "Except I'd have to remind myself to cook less or else your father and I will be having leftovers for at least two days."

"Aw, c'mon mum, I don't eat two days worth of leftovers," he protested.

"Have you seen the amount you eat when you're hungry sometimes?"

The brunette paused. He was in fact cutting himself another slice of lasagne from the large dish right then. "Not two days worth," he repeats, placing the slice of lasagne on his plate and grinning from ear to ear. His mother laughed heartily.

"Not two days worth," she agreed. "You're still eating a lot though," she said, gesturing to his second slice of lasagne.

Sora glanced at his slice and back to his mother. "But it's lasagne," he said matter-of-factly, as if it were supposed to make sense. However, it did to Reina and she just smiled. Her son's love for her lasagne would probably never fade, she thought.

"It's alright, Sora, I'm just joking with you," she said, not wanting to disrupt her son from his favourite meal any longer.

Sora grinned. "I know."

Once he was done with his dinner, the brunette talked with his mother for a little longer then headed up to his room once again. He smiled as he ascended the stairs, thinking about his relationship with his mother. He was really tight with his mother, knowing that she would always be there for him whenever he needed her. He loved her dearly and was extremely close with her. He wasn't a mother's boy, in his opinion; he didn't always ask her to do things, not everything he did depends on her and he didn't think that she was absolutely perfect. Although, when he thought about it, he wondered if this was what Riku was missing out on sometimes. Sora wouldn't trade his mother for the world—that, he was sure of. But how did Riku feel, not having a mother? It had been a long time since Sora had asked his best friend that.

Sora got to the door of his room. As he was turning the doorknob, Sora didn't know that he was about to see someone who would change his life in the future. He didn't know that he was going to go through an unchangeable destiny that he couldn't escape. And he certainly didn't know that he was about to meet an uninvited figure, also known as fate, in his room. The door was finally ajar and Sora saw a tall, dark-haired man standing nearby his bed, seemingly scrutinizing his room. Then, the man turned towards him and in that moment, their eyes met.

_Well, that's the end of the first chapter! I do hope you liked it. Please give a review to let me know what you think. xD_


	3. Chapter 2

_Dang, it's been awhile! I've been held up so many times even though I've wanted to update this story so badly. I've finally gotten down to it, however. xD Although, I don't know, I didn't find this chapter flowing out so easily. I had to do a lot of thinking somehow. Oh well, I do hope it's alright though! Do leave a review. xD_

**The Mysterious Man**

Silence echoed through the room as Sora stared at the uninvited man standing a few feet away from him. He blinked. He blinked again. He then rubbed his eyes, thinking that his mind was playing tricks on him. However, when he cleared his vision, the figure was still there. The boy with cinnamon-spikes merely gaped for a moment, still unsure. Once it registered in his mind that there really _was _a stranger, standing right there in his room as if there was nothing wrong with it, he felt his shock run through his body, causing him to jerk back in alarm.

"Whoa!" he yelled, trying to pull back into a protective stance. Instead, being too close to the door behind him, the younger brunette rammed his head into the door. He yelped in pain and slumped down to the floor beneath him, holding his head with both his arms, wincing.

The older brunette's eyes widened, shocked at the sudden scene Sora had caused. He continued watching the younger boy, quite confused yet somehow peculiarly amused. He then chuckled lightly to himself. "Weird," he mumbled. "What a klutz."

The younger brunette glanced up at this, still holding his head. "Hey! I heard that," he said defensively. Somehow, the masculine figure didn't seem to faze at his words—he just looked more amused. Sora had a feeling that amusement wasn't in a pleasing way. The way the man looked at him… It made him think that the man thought he was crazy.

"I'm talking to you," Sora said. The man turned around as if searching for someone else before glancing back at Sora with an incredulous expression.

The older brunette cleared his throat and gazed at Sora with an unsure expression, his blue eyes merely studying the younger boy. Sora felt his body freeze when he saw the other man's eyes properly for the first time—they were like his, a darkish shade of blue. Just a natural colour, but somehow, they seemed to be etched with a hint of loneliness. That wasn't it, though. They seemed be filled with other things, as if hiding all remnants of the man's past emotions and memories. They seemed so… Unbelievably deep. Like a puzzle, waiting to be solved. Like a memory, waiting to be unfold. Like a story, waiting to be told.

"Are you referring to me?" the man asked; his voice low yet smooth.

Sora twitched a little in response to the man's voice. However, still peculiarly entranced, Sora didn't answer immediately. He merely stared from the place he sat, motionless. The older brunette observed him for a few more seconds before sighing.

"Of course he isn't, he can't see me," the masculine figure said, turning away from the younger boy, scratching the back of his head. "No one can." He walked over to the white shelf located beside Sora's table desk and began scanning through the books and games stacked messily in it. The younger brunette merely continued staring, his eyes following the man, his voice still jammed in his throat. The man gave a light chuckle to himself. "I wonder how many times I've already asked random humans that question—and gotten no answer," he mused. From what Sora heard, it didn't seem that the man was talking to him at all. The man seemed to just be talking to himself. How… _Odd_.

"Hmm," Sora heard the older brunette mumble. "More games than books." His tone sounded mildly amused at this statement.

Suddenly, the boy with cinnamon spikes found his voice again, escaping from his entranced state. He perked up at the man's comment, himself lightening up at the thought of games. "That's 'cause games are more interesting," Sora said, grinning slightly as he got up from his uncomfortable position.

The older brunette turned towards him, bewildered. Staring at Sora, he was motionless and wordless, as if not knowing what to do. The younger brunette gave an unsure smile and briefly studied the man in his room. The man didn't seem to mean any harm. That was all Sora needed to know to become his cheerful, friendly self again. Although, even _if _the man was harmless, the younger brunette had to ask one question; "Who _are_ you anyways?"

The man narrowed his eyes. He still seemed to be quite in shock. "You're talking to me," he said, his voice almost a whisper—it wasn't really a question.

"I think I should have every right to, as you've barged into my room without permission," Sora said, giving a bit of an awkward chuckle.

"You can see me," the other person murmured, still in shock.

Sora rolled his eyes. "I'm not blind."

The man just stared blankly after a while, an unreadable expression on his face. The younger brunette waited for a response, tilting his head slightly in confusion towards the other person's sudden silence. "Hey, are you oka—?"

"Are you human?" the man murmured. The boy with cinnamon spikes gaped at the other, wondering if he was serious or not. Once Sora realised that he _was _being serious, Sora furrowed his eyebrows.

"You really asking that?"

The older person frowned slightly, turning away for a moment. "I suppose not," he said softly. Sora's lips rose; he was slightly amused at the weird phrases and questions the other man spoke.

At that moment, they both turned as they heard a voice call and the door to Sora's room swing open. "Honey, I've got some tea and cookies for you," Reina chimed as she walked in with a tray and headed towards Sora's desk. She placed the tray carefully, making sure not to spill anything. Her son looked at the tray longingly staring at its' contents. There was green tea in the clay cup and sugar cookies arranged neatly on the plate; dessert. Yum.

Suddenly remembering the presence of the man, Sora got out of his momentary daze and turned to face him. He was still there, just observing Sora and his mother. Sora glanced awkwardly between the man and his mother, wondering what she would think and what he should tell her.

_-Well, this is awkward. I promise you I haven't been hiding this guy in here even though you obviously didn't see anyone of the sort coming through the door._

_-He magically formed from thin air, really._

_-I think he climbed through my window._

_-Argh! Call the cops! (even though oddly enough, I wasn't freaking out before this)_

Sora mentally sighed to himself. What the hell was he thinking? He could just tell her the truth—that he found the man standing in his room, despite the fact it sounded a tad bit stupid. Okay, no, not a tad bit. It was idiotic. But somehow, he felt this sort of obligation of not selling the guy out. It was weird, in his opinion but he couldn't help it. So in the end, he settled with a simple lie. Only problem was, when he tried to lie, he always panicked.

"Well, _hey_ mum!" He yelled suddenly, flailing his arms into the air, flustered. Reina flinched in surprise and turned to face her son. "Err… This is umm…" He said unsurely as he glanced at the man whose eyes seemed to be widened in shock. "A friend of mine!" Sora announced quickly as he gestured his arms to the man. "He—err… He's in college, that's why he's older than me and stuff like that. Yeah." He gave off an awkward chuckle. He could feel his heartbeat accelerating and sweat trickling down his face. He was never good at lying.

Sora saw his mother peer cautiously towards the place where he was gesturing at. She then turned her gaze towards him once again, this time, a frown on her face. That was when Sora knew he was screwed. _Oh crap, she's going to ask me how he came in, isn't she? How am I supposed to answer when I don't know? She definitely knows I'm lying, doesn't she?_

However, what she said next, was something Sora least expected. "Who are you talking about, Sora?"

Reina's son just stared at her, dumbfounded.

_What?_

Suddenly, the man started chuckling loudly, as if he found the entire situation a joke. Sora turned towards him, eyes wide, eyebrows shot up. Why the hell was he laughing anyways?

"Uh… Him!" Sora said, pointing at the older brunette. "This dude, the one laughing here."

Reina glanced again but she didn't say anything. She looked at her son anxiously and lifted a hand to his forehead. "Are you alright?"

Sora's eyes widened again. What was going on? "I'm fine, mum," he said, exasperated. He quickly glanced between the two again, completely and utterly baffled. Why wasn't she saying anything about the stranger in his room?

"No," she said, "I think you're a little warm, honey, come downstairs and I'll get you some medicine."

"W-What?" Sora stuttered. "B-B-But I'm fine!" he protested. "I'm just introducing you to a friend."

"Sora," she said as she inhaled sharply. "There's no one there." There was definitely a hint of anxiety in her voice.

The boy with cinnamon spikes frowned, puzzled. "There is," he argued. "There's this guy here, with brown hair and blue eyes like me."

The man's chuckling stopped. "Give it a rest, Sora, she can't see me," he said.

Sora turned towards him, his eyes completely wide. "W-What do you mean she can't see you?" he asked.

The man shrugged. "I'll explain later."

"W-Wha—? No, I don't—" Before Sora managed to demand for an explanation, he was yanked by his mother and he was already being dragged downstairs. "Mum, what are you _doing_?" he asked, bewildered.

"Sora, I'm going to give you some medicine. Once you're done, go up to your room and get some rest. You're not going to school tomorrow," she said in one breath.

"But I'm fine," he said, still feeling completely perplexed as to what had just occurred. He had tried to explain to his mother about the man in his room. His mother couldn't even see the mysterious man and somehow he could. Worst thing was, now she thought he was sick and possibly hallucinating. This was _not_ his day.

"Sweetie, please, just sit down," she sighed as she let go off his arm and headed towards the kitchen.

Sora headed towards the dining table and sat down on one of the chairs. He tried to calm himself despite his confusion. His mind was revolving around the fact the man couldn't be seen and his mother was freaking out because her son was apparently sick. How did she not see that guy though? There was no possible or logical explanation for such a thing. As far as Sora knew, there was no invention for invisibility. And even if there was, how the heck was Sora able to see the man, then? Then that meant he _was _hallucinating. But then… Was he really? No, it felt much too real. He definitely couldn't suddenly think up some guy who had dark brown hair and blue eyes and a masculine figure. He definitely couldn't imagine somehow with eyes which seemed meaningful. He certainly couldn't make up such a person. The only person he knew with such vivid imagination was probably Alice. And he was definitely one out of many who couldn't comprehend her.

Reina came from the kitchen which a glass of water in one hand and two white pills in the other. "Drink these," she told him as she passed the pills and water to him.

Knowing that it was no use to protest, Sora gulped down the pills in one shot and glanced at his mother. She was looking at him, her face not hiding her strong anxiety. He felt bad, making her worry for him so he smiled at her in reassurance. He'd just have to pretend the entire incident didn't happen in front of her for now, he decided.

"I'm fine, mum, don't worry about it," he said. "I'll probably be fine tomorrow."

Reina nodded unsurely, still feeling anxious. Sora had never been so ill till he had gotten hallucinations. He was always one to recover from his colds and flues quickly so Reina had never really felt too worried about her son. However, today, even though his forehead was mildly warm, he had been ranting about having a friend who was in college, right there, in his room. From what she had seen though, he was merely pointing to the area in front of his shelf and nothing less. Reina pursed her lips and placed her hand onto her son's forehead once again. Definitely warm.

"I hope so," she said quietly. "Just in case, don't go to school tomorrow, Sora," she said. "I'll call and let them know tomorrow that you're sick." She saw her son make an expression which showed that he wanted to protest but he seemed to decide against it.

"Alright, mum," he mumbled.

Reina smiled at her son and rubbed his cheek. "Go get some rest now, Sora," she murmured.

"Cookies first!" he announced, his face lighting up.

Sora's mother let out a laugh. "Okay, cookies first, then sleep," she agreed, smiling. "Now of you go! Chop chop!" The brunette grinned at his mother.

"Night, mum," he said and headed up for his room once again.

As expected, the man was still there and this time, he seemed to be observing the posters stuck onto Sora's wall. There were only a few, though. Most of which Sora had gotten after he went to their concerts.

"Do you listen to Daemon City?" Sora asked. He was referring to a poster the older brunette was currently looking at. It was Sora's favourite rock band. He loved their songs and had bought each and every album they made. He had been lucky that they'd come to Destiny Islands as not many bands or artists tend to visit such a small area. He had begged his mother to give him extra cash and had even saved up to buy the tickets. He definitely wouldn't forget the mind-blowing concert he attended. It was amazing.

"Hmm? No, I don't. They only came about after my time, I think."

His time?

"Err... Right. They're really good though."

The man gave a light chuckle. "So I guessed. You seem to have a lot of CD's by them."

He had been checking out Sora's CD rack too?

Sora then gave an awkward grin. "Yeap." The both remained silent for a moment before the older person suddenly spoke.

"So I'm your friend in college, huh?" he asked, an amused expression on his face. Sora blushed at this, feeling oddly embarrassed.

"S-Shut up, I didn't know what else to tell her," he said, ducking his head. A chuckle came from the older brunette.

Sora then stared at the man for a long moment, pensive. His thoughts circulated around the mysterious happening earlier, wondering about many things. He then licked his lips, and then spoke. "Hey, earlier, you said my mum couldn't see you," he mumbled. "That wasn't a joke, was it?"

The man's eyebrows rose, as if shocked at the question. He scratched the back of his head before answering. "No, it wasn't."

Sora paused. "You still haven't answered my question."

"What question?"

"About who you are," Sora mumbled. "I'm sort of wondering why my mum couldn't see you too, now."

The man gazed at Sora for a long time silently. He then pursed his lips, his face growing serious. "What I am about to tell you may change the way you view a few things in this world," he said, his voice loud and clear. "You will be able to make sense of what is going on though, once you know. But it's your choice, Sora. Are you willing to listen?"

The younger brunette gulped. Sora wasn't the type who couldn't adjust with change. As a matter of fact, he could adjust to change quite easily. It was something he was good at, or so people said. There was once his friends had said that if he was suddenly told that he had to save the world, he'd be able to accept it in a heartbeat. However, to be told, to have a choice to change, he wasn't too sure if he truly wanted it. It wasn't something most people would jump into with a warning. But the man had said he'd be able to understand the situation… And if there was something Sora hated, it was being left in the dark, not knowing something. If something bothered him, he'd stay up for nights, trying to make sense of something. Sora chewed on his lips for a minute, thinking, before he answered. "Yeah," he said.

The man sighed. "Have a seat, then," he said and motioned to Sora's chair. Sora then sat there while the other sat on the edge of Sora's bed. He sat there, knees apart and his shoulders placed on each knee, lifting his fingers to interlock in front of his lips. He crouched, leaning forward as he silently observed Sora with his blue eyes.

The boy with cinnamon spikes bit his lip impatiently, wondering what 'news' would make such a change on his view towards certain things. His curiosity was getting the better of him, causing him to unconsciously rock back and forth in his seat and his fingers to drum continuously on his table desk. After a few minutes, the man finally spoke.

"First thing's first," he said, his voice mildly soft yet still audible, "my name is Terra." Sora nodded in response, acknowledging him. Terra's fingers squeezed slightly while he stayed quiet for a few seconds, averting his eyes.

When the man didn't continue, Sora spoke. "Terra?"

As if on cue, Terra inhaled deeply and continued with his talk. "Do you believe in fate, Sora?" he asked slowly.

Taken aback at the unexpected question, he didn't answer immediately. "F-Fate?"

The older brunette turned to look at him. "Yeah, fate. Do you believe in it?"

Sora never really was a religious type. He didn't really believe in angels and devils, those sort of things but there was one thing he truly did believe in; fate. To him, fate was like a reason for anything that happened. For example, he believed that fate brought him and Riku together and allowed them to be best friends. He believed that everything in this world happened for a reason—and that was fate. He was in fact, a strong believer of fate. "Y-Yeah… Yeah! I do," he said with a half grin. "Strongly." Terra smiled at his answer.

"Then I'll tell you something, Sora. I was sent down here by Aerith," he said softly, "to become your fate."

The younger brunette blinked. "What?"

"Apparently humans have a misinterpretation that fate is some sort of invisible force that occurs around them," Terra explained, glancing down at his intertwined fingers. "On the other hand, fates are actually spirits—souls that are sent down to earth with a task." He then lifted his gaze to Sora, his blue eyes glowing in the presence of the light. "And my task is to be your fate."

Sora remained silent for a really long time. He sat there, completely stunned, unaware that his mouth was hanging open while Terra watched him patiently as he tried to absorb all the information the older brunette had revealed to him. Suddenly, Sora jumped out of his chair towards Terra, his eyes wide and a grin on his face, causing the man to flinch backwards in shock. "That's so cool!" he yelled, his blue eyes shining with excitement. "I didn't know that fate existed like that."

Terra watched Sora, not knowing what to say. He had predicted a few scenarios that would've happened when he told Sora about being fate when Sora had gone downstairs earlier but this definitely wasn't one of them. He didn't expect the younger brunette to be so… _excited. _

Then, Sora blinked again, snapping out of his thrilled state. "But wait," he said. "You're a soul? You're not human?"

He stared for a moment at Sora before replying, his eyes hard and strong. "Yeah," he said softly.

The younger brunette scratched the back of his head, furrowing his eyebrows slightly. "You mean to tell me you're like, a ghost? That I have sixth sense?"

"I'm not a ghost. I told you, I'm just a soul with a task—your fate."

Sora nodded unsurely. "That's quite cool," he mumbled. "But err… Why is it I can see you and my mum can't, then?"

Terra pursed his lips. "I haven't the faintest idea," he replied honestly. "Normally, humans should be unable to see or hear me. I've seen many humans of whom I've thought could possibly see me but none of them have, actually—only you." The older brunette then lifted his fingers to his chin, as if pondering over the situation. "It's odd, but I'm guessing that you're an exception. Maybe you do have sixth sense or something. Have you seen any ghosts before?"

The younger boy shook his head. "I haven't really thought of spiritual things nor seen anything of the sort till today," he confessed.

Terra nodded slowly, as if taking the information in. "I see. Maybe you're special…" he trailed off. Then he gave a small smile at Sora and added, "Or something like that."

At that moment, a sudden sound and vibration came from Sora's pocket, causing him to jerk in alarm. He quickly rummaged his phone out of his pocket and flipped it open.

One new message.

"It's Riku," he mumbled to himself. Unknown to him, Terra narrowed his eyes at the name.

It read;

_You left your scarf at my place._

Sora mentally groaned to himself. He had completely forgotten about taking his scarf when he was rushing himself to leave. He hadn't wanted to be there when Alice arrived because he felt obligated to leave the two alone. Plus it felt somehow awkward being around with the two at times…

Suddenly, there came another message tone and his phone vibrated again.

One new message.

_Idiot._

This caused Sora to smile. Before he managed to reply to the text, Terra's voice interrupted him.

"Sora, if you're not going to listen," he said, sounding a little impatient.

Immediately, Sora snapped his phone shut and looked up at the older person. "Sorry," he said quickly. "That was rude. Please continue."

Another interruption came almost just as quick.

"Sora!" his mother called from below. "If you've eaten your cookies, I expect you to be in bed soon, young man."

The boy with cinnamon spikes glanced at the tray. It was still untouched.

Terra gave a deep sigh and shut his eyes. "You know what? Never mind. Go sleep."

"Huh? Wait! No, we're not done yet," he argued, not wanting to drop the subject just yet. "You still haven't told me who this Aerith is and stuff like that."

But the older brunette was already getting up from the bed. "Don't worry about it. I'll tell you more about it tomorrow."

"But—"

"Good _night_, kid."

Sora just stared at him for a moment. "H-Hey! I'm not a kid!"

Terra just chuckled to himself before heading towards Sora's balcony and going past the curtains and the closed, shut door. Sora gaped for a moment, dumbfounded. _Did he just—go __**through**__ the door?_

Scrambling up from his chair, Sora dashed towards his balcony, drew the curtains and slid the door open. "Wait, Ter—!"

"—ra…" he trailed off. There was no one in sight. All Sora could see was the usual view he saw from his balcony; the silent neighbourhood with a few road lamps lit up dimly across the street. It was ever so silent; most people were asleep by this hour as the people around this area didn't tend to stay up much. He could hear the mewing of a cat from somewhere distant and the shuffling of the trees as they swayed in the wind. Winter's night breeze blew past Sora's face, making his hair shift with it. There was no sign of Terra anywhere.

He continued staring off into the night, questions spiralling in his head as he started to fully realise the impact of what had just happened. He tried to mentally do a recap, thinking of the things Terra had just told him.

Terra was a spirit.

Fate was actually not some invisible force which allowed things to happen or guided things in a certain direction. Fate was a spirit which was sent down with a task to fulfil. Terra was Sora's fate.

Who was he sent down by, anyways?

Sora resigned on his questions, knowing that he'd only be able to get the answer from Terra himself. Although, it seemed that even Terra wasn't sure why the younger brunette could see him.

He shivered as another cold gust blew past. Sora rubbed his arms to create a friction so that his arms would warm up and then decided to go inside. He shut his balcony door and then went to eat his cookies, still feeling a little dazed. Once he had finished eating his sugar cookies and drinking his green tea, he got ready for bed, taking his own time with his slow pace, his mind much too far from what he was doing.

He shut the lights and then headed over to his bed, feeling much more relaxed when his body was on the soft mattress and his head feeling a little lighter. Then, as he expected, the questions started flooding in. First of all, there was Terra. The older brunette was apparently a spirit who had a task to, in Sora's opinion; guide Sora through his life or something of the sort. Terra didn't seem to be a bad person. He had in no way tried to harm Sora at all. He seemed quite peaceful and didn't seem to snap at Sora. He was nice. Although, he was oddly mysterious, with his deep, secretive eyes and his simple yet unique mannerism. Sora felt like there were a lot of things to him, as if he were an intriguing character. However, most of all, he was… His fate.

What Terra had said earlier was true. The information given to him _had_ changed a few of his views on things, especially fate. Who was to know that fate was actually a _spirit_ out of all things? And how long had Terra been watching him anyways? Why hadn't he seen his fate until now? Sora wondered. He _did_ find it fascinating, no joke. He always found these sorts of things pretty cool but it still seemed a little irking because he felt that there was a possibility that something some people may believed in could be completely different from what it truly was. He felt himself seeking for answers, wanting to know more about the truth to reality.

Sora sighed and turned to lie down on the side of his body. There was no point going on like this, he told himself. He'd just have to wait till the next day where he could question Terra—if he could find him. Sora sighed once more and pulled his duvet higher up to cover his shoulders. _Never mind_, he thought. He'd sort it out tomorrow. And with that, he managed to finally pull himself into a peaceful slumber.

_And whoops! I do believe we've reached the end of the chapter! I hope you liked it, I don't feel very confident about this chapter, to be honest. Dx Do let me know what you think though! By the way, to all you readers, I have a deviantart account of which I do a bit of art of this fanfic. xD It's on my profile so those of you who are interested, feel free to have a look. Sometimes I may put some information about this fanfic on my journals, for example if I'll be getting a new chapter up quickly or if there's going to be a delay and stuff so if you're curious, please do go to my deviantart to have a look. That's about it for now! Do leave a review. xD_


	4. Chapter 3

_Greetings, readers. Do forgive me in the delay of this chapter. I _have_ been extremely busy with loads of things. Anyways, I hope you'll enjoy this chapter. Initially I had come to a writer's block at one part but when I eventually continued, I just couldn't stop! It was fun to write. xD Please do leave a review. It drives my motivation!_

_Review replies for chapter 3;_

_**xXAwesomnessKiraXx – **__Thank you! xD_

_**KENZI-CHI**__– Haha! Well, that's Sora for you! xD Super friendly to the max!_

* * *

**Colds**

_Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!_

Sora stirred groggily at the sound of his alarm clock, his eyebrows scrunching up as he mentally cursed the clock for disrupting his slumber. He rolled over to the edge of his bed to lie on his chest and slapped a button, making the alarm stop. He sighed, feeling a slight satisfaction with the annoying beeping sound gone. His eyebrows smoothened out as the silence gave him peace. The tranquillity didn't last long though as his alarm clock went off once again.

_Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!_

The boy groaned and whacked his clock again, accidentally causing it to topple down onto the floor and creating a loud 'thud'. The beeping stopped. Sora jolted upwards from his sleeping position to sit up on his bed.

"Damn it," he cursed as he peered at the floor where his clock had fallen. He picked it up carefully and narrowed his eyes to take a close and clear look at it, his drowsiness getting the better of his eyesight. It wasn't broken. Sora sighed in relief and placed it back onto his bedside table, silently telling himself to be more careful with it. It was his second alarm clock this month and his mother had sworn that if he'd broken this one, he'd have to use his own pocket money to buy his own. And god knew that he didn't have _that_ much pocket money. Well, maybe enough but he definitely didn't want to spend it buying an _alarm clock_. Sora fell back onto his pillow, shutting his heavy eyelids. He felt exhausted. He definitely didn't want to get up. But today was a Wednesday—and that meant school.

_School…_

The brunette groaned to himself and pressed his hands onto his face, rubbing it. He had to get ready for school. Reluctantly, he got up from his bed and dragged himself to the toilet to wash his face. He cupped the cold water from his tap, flinching at the touch. He then washed his face, the cold water getting rid of the drowsiness. He then looked up to his mirror. Sora's hair was dishevelled and spiked up messily in many different directions and he had light, purplish bags under his eyes. He sighed, switched off his tap and grabbed a small towel to wipe his face. As he started to fully awake, his mind started to clear and getting rid of his daze.

Suddenly, the events of last night came back to him and he tensed up, his eyes widening.

_Terra._

In a blink of an eye, Sora was rushing out of the toilet and into his room where he started to search for a certain older brunette. He glanced around quickly, swirling himself as he searched for another figure other than himself. There was no Terra in sight. The boy stared blankly at the place where Terra had sad the night before—the edge of his bed. He walked over to his bed and sat at the same place where his fate had the night before. But this time, he felt oddly unsure about a few things.

_Had it all been a dream?_

Had meeting Terra and finding about fate and everything been just a figment of his imagination? Had he been dreaming about it? Despite his denial on being unable to think up such crazy events, could he have underestimated the sanity of his mind? That was when his eyes shifted slowly towards his desk and saw tray of an empty cup and a plate with cookie crumbs lay. Nope, it definitely wasn't a dream. And he definitely wasn't insane. There, right there on his desk, lay the evidence. He had eaten the cookies after Terra had left and the crumbs still laid there. Evidence. Proof. Undoubtedly, he had seen a spirit last night. As it started to sink in that the events _weren't_ just his imagination, he was starting to find the entire thing hard to believe.

But then Sora wondered; where was Terra anyways? He had left, going past Sora's balcony door and his curtain, and disappeared into the night. There was no trace of him anywhere. He had told Sora that he would continue his explanations today but that wasn't really going to work if Sora couldn't find him. Sighing, Sora resigned from his thoughts and went back into his toilet. He'd just have to look for Terra later, he thought. Right now, he had to get ready for school.

After a quick shower, Sora changed into his uniform and headed downstairs. He entered the dining room and noticed that his father was already up and was sitting down, reading the newspaper. "Morning dad," Sora greeted.

His father glanced up from the papers, nodded and gave a smile. "Morning Sora," he replied. He then resumed reading when Sora plonked himself on the seat across his father.

His mother then emerged from the kitchen, carrying a tray of food—a bowl of rice, a bowl of miso soup, rolled eggs, fish and much more. "And honey, I forgot to mention, Sora wasn't feeling so good yesterday so I—" She stopped, mid sentence when she saw her son, not only awake but dressed up in his uniform. Then, her expression changed, showing how appalled she was. "Sora!" she exclaimed, surprised by his presence. Reina placed the tray onto the table, crossed her arms and frowned at her son. "What do you think you're doing?"

Sora shrugged confusedly, a little alarmed at her sudden change in behaviour. One minute she was setting the table calmly and the next minute she was frowning at him with her arms crossed. That meant one thing—he had done something wrong. But then, what _had_ he done wrong? His mother sighed when she recognised that innocent look on Sora's face—he hadn't the faintest idea what she was talking about.

"I told you to rest today, Sora," she said quietly, no longer aggressive with her words. "You're not going to school today, remember?"

The boy with cinnamon spikes just stared at her blankly for a few minutes. Then, his eyes widened in recognition. "Ah!" he exclaimed. "Oh yeah…" He scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

His mother sighed again and gave him a small smile. "My silly son, forgetting things all the time."

"Hey! I don't forget things all the—" Reina gave him a look and he forced back his words. "… Okay fine, maybe I do tend to forget a lot," he admitted.

Reina looked at him a little anxiously. "Are you still tired?"

Even though he had been groaning about getting more sleep earlier, after getting up and taking a shower and everything he didn't feel so tired anymore. He was completely wide awake now. "Nope," he said, grinning.

"I still think you should rest today, though, Sora," she said as she started to arrange the table.

"Umm… but mum, I'm—" Reina paused once more and looked at him, raising one eyebrow gracefully yet somehow it seemed menacing… Okay," he replied, knowing that it'd do no good to argue with her.

She tilted her head downwards and resumed what she was doing. "Your dad will be going for work soon and after breakfast I'm going to go to your aunt's place for a while—she said she needed some help fixing up that new apartment she bought in town. And so you'll be at home alone. Will you be alright?"

"Yeah," the boy said, smiling. His mother's concern over him never ceased to amaze him. "Oh, err… I'll just be going to the convenience store a little after breakfast, mum. I kind of want to buy some drinks and stuff." It was an excuse. He hated lying to his mother but he had to look for Terra. Besides, he wasn't feeling sick at all so he didn't think it was much of a big deal.

"Do you want me to buy some for you? I can buy some quickly and bring it back before I go off to your aunt's."

Sora quickly shook his head quickly and gave her his usual grin. "Nah, it's alright. Thanks anyways, mum."

Soon enough after breakfast, Sora's mum and dad were out of the house, leaving the young brunette by himself. He quickly changed out of his uniform and was once again downstairs, fixing himself up in a woollen sweater and putting his boots on. Just as he was about to open the door to leave, a question struck him.

Where would he go search first?

There was no telling how far Terra had gone off after that many hours. In addition, he could somehow go through walls—or well, from what Sora had seen; his balcony door. However, the older brunette _had_ mentioned that he'd tell Sora everything else 'tomorrow' which meant today, Tuesday. That was if Terra hadn't been lying…

_Never mind,_ Sora thought. He'd just have to search high and low to get his answers. And having no school meant that he could search the entire day for Terra. Well, perhaps not the _entire_ day but a good solid 5 hours before his mother would return because she had gone all the way to town and that meant a ferry trip back and forth, driving a few minutes back and forth and of course, chatting with his aunt. Definitely at least 5 hours before she got back, maybe even more.

Heading out, Sora felt the cold bite of the outside temperature. It was definitely much colder than yesterday in his opinion. He shivered and rubbed his arms to warm them. He exhaled onto his palms, his breath letting out a misty fog due to the condensation. He had underestimated the weather, thinking that it wasn't going to be so freezing cold. That was exactly why he had only worn a long-sleeved shirt, jeans, a woolen sweater, his gloves, socks and boots. He then decided that it was probably best to get his coat. However, just before he turned to go inside to get it, something caught his eye. A few metres across the road, under a withered tree there was a figure, standing there and looking at the bald branches—a tall, muscular figure with brown hair.

"Terra," he breathed. Immediately, Sora ran over to man, yelling his name. "Terra!"

The older brunette turned away from the tree and turned his gaze in the direction of which his name was being called. When he saw Sora, his expression didn't change but with the look in his eyes, the boy could somehow tell that Terra was acknowledging him.

"Man! I thought I'd have to look all over for you," Sora said as he panted to catch his breath. It was much too cold to be running. He could already feel the frost prick at his lungs.

"I didn't go far," Terra replied and beckoned to the tree beside him.

"Thanks for that," Sora said sincerely. He _really _didn't want to go around searching for someone despite his determination to get answers. It wasn't like Sora hated exploring and searching. For him, it was quite adventurous and normally he'd love it. Except in this weather, he wasn't too sure he'd manage for as long as he wanted and with the icy coldness on his cheeks, he definitely didn't want to be out here _searching_ for someone.

Terra just shrugged.

"So err…" Sora said, not knowing where to start. At that moment, one of the adults from Sora's neighbourhood was passing by looked him oddly. She gave him an unsure nod before walking off, clearly confused. Sora vaguely knew that lady as he'd seen her a few times. She talked on and off with his mother and sometimes gave brownies to them. But why was she looking at him so weirdly…? That was when the younger brunette remembered something—others couldn't see Terra. They'd just see Sora and it'd seem like he was talking to the balding tree. "Oops," he mumbled, feeling a little awkward.

Terra chuckled at this, quite amused. Sora grimaced at him. It was Terra's fault if people started thinking he was insane, not Sora's.

"Maybe we should go somewhere where people can't hear me talking to you," Sora suggested, wanting to avoid questioning stares.

"Fine by me."

"I know just the place," the younger brunette said, grinning.

And that he did. The beach was always deserted during winter, especially during school hours. After all, the only people who would bother coming to the beach in weather like this where there were strong winds and icy waters were the '_deranged_ kids who have nothing better to do'—or so his dad used to say.

When they had finally reached their destination, as Sora had predicted, it _was_ in fact isolated. It was unimaginably cold too. Sora hugged himself providing himself warmth. The two of them stood in front of the murky seas, the strong waves rushing against the shores. Grey clouds hovered in the skies, preventing any light or warmth from the distant sun to reach them. Without the light, the normally peach-like sand appeared to look brown and rocky. Even the salt water looked murky. Silent, it was. Beautiful, it was not.

"No offense or anything but your island's beach looks horrible," Terra commented.

"It's winter," Sora retorted. "It's not supposed to look great in winter."

The older man shrugged. "If you insist."

Sora dropped onto the sand and curled himself into a ball, hugging his knees. He needed all the warmth he could get, being underdressed and all. "Just start talking," he pleaded, wanting to get his mind off the cold.

Terra sat beside him, and looked completely unaffected by the freezing weather. The boy beside him narrowed his eyes, feeling a little envious of the soul who was not getting his skin bitten by the frost in the air. "What do you want to know?"

The younger brunette pondered over the question. "Who's Aerith?"

Terra's eyes looked slightly amused. "I didn't think you'd remember her name."

"I don't forget names easily."

"Seems to be that you forget everything your mum says quite quickly though," Terra chuckled.

The boy with cinnamon spikes flushed at this. Then, he paused. "Wait a minute," he mumbled, remembering his mum's appalled face when he had forgotten that she wanted him to skip school. His blue eyes narrowed suspiciously at the older brunette beside him. "You were watching me this morning?"

"Ah," was the reply. "So you _aren't_ as blur as I suspected."

Sora frowned at Terra's teasing. "If you were there in the first place you could've at least shown yourself. I thought I'd have to go around the entire town looking for you."

"I only stayed around for a short while after you came down for breakfast. I left soon after. I got bored listening to your mum talking about your aunt." Sora laughed at that. He had gotten bored at his mum's rant as well. "I didn't go far though, Sora."

The younger brunette froze for a moment at the sound of his name. He still hadn't gotten accustomed to Terra saying it. It wasn't like he was uncomfortable with it; it was just that it sounded… Oddly… _Nice_.

"Oh," Terra mumbled as if in realisation. "Seems like I've gotten us off track. Sorry about that." He rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. "You were asking about Aerith weren't you?"

"Mm… Yeah."

"Aerith is an angel," the spirit said matter-of-factly. "She was the one who told me about this task and sent me down here."

Terra watched as Sora's eyes widened and his pupils dilated for a split second. "Angels… Exist?" the younger brunette breathed.

"Seems like it."

Sora stared at his fate in disbelief.

A perfectly shaped eyebrow arched on Terra's face. "What? You believe in my existence but you don't believe in angels?"

"I'm an atheist," Sora said defensively. His expression then faltered, his eyebrows scrunching. "Although I'm starting to wonder if I should jump ship onto a religion now."

Terra chuckled at that. "Maybe so."

Sora smiled. He then tilted his head curiously at Terra. "Did you have a religion?"

Terra's eyes widened at this. The older brunette then averted his gaze to stare at the waves. His blue eyes darkened and kept quiet for a moment. "Maybe so," he repeated, all the humour evident in his voice earlier gone, sounding a deeper and a little bitter.

At the tone of Terra's voice, the boy with crimson spikes instantly felt an obligation to not pry into the other man's past. So instead, he just said, "I see," and that was that.

A silence then followed, leaving Sora to become more aware of the cold that was making his body feel a chill. He breathed onto palms again, trying to get more warmth. It really wasn't a wise decision, coming out into this weather with very little clothes. He mentally cursed himself for not getting his coat. He could really use it right about now. Sora wasn't quite used to the cold. He wasn't one who really liked the low temperatures. He knew that Riku did, though. His best friend was never really affected by winter. In fact, Riku would always tease Sora for being so awfully weak against the temperature. Sora smiled at those memories. Of all the times that had happened. How they would argue and Sora would sulk, being called 'weak'. In the end, Sora's best friend would give him a hug, transferring his heat. However, that was when they were kids. Nowadays Riku just gave Sora his jacket. Riku was always strong against the cold, unlike him. For him, he liked summer despite its blazing hot sun and boiling heat. Ah, the sun… How he missed the sun right now. The heat and light it provided was something he always accepted…

Suddenly, a voice broke Sora out of his thoughts of the warm summer. "So, what else do you want to ask me?" The younger brunette turned to the older man. Terra didn't seem to notice that Sora had been daydreaming.

"Huh? Oh, umm…" Sora paused, a little distracted. He then pondered over it for a moment. "Have you been my fate ever since I was a kid or something?"

"… No. I was sent down just recently, actually," Terra said, his way of speech suddenly sounding reserved, as if he was being cautious with what he was saying. Sora noticed but just shrugged it off.

"So how come I haven't been able to see you until yesterday?"

Terra went silent for a moment. It wasn't as if he went silent because he didn't know. Terra knew; he definitely did. Telling Sora, however, he felt reluctant to do so. After all, why would he want to tell another person something he felt mildly ashamed of. Why was it embarrassing? It was actually quite a simple reason, really.

The older brunette was sent down to earth four days ago with the knowledge that normal humans wouldn't be able to see him. He knew that. However, he wasn't used to being invisible. He kept feeling uncomfortable when people 'stare off into space' in his direction. It felt unnerving for him even though he wouldn't openly admit it. That's why he kept moving out of the direction of their stares. For Sora however, it wasn't so… Simple.

Terra knew—or well, thought—that Sora couldn't see him. But being entrusted with the boy's fate, he couldn't help but feel a little conscious of the younger brunette. He kept thinking what if Sora could see him? He would just appear to be some sort of creepy stalker who just follows the boy around. That was exactly why Terra had come to a conclusion—to avoid Sora. Not altogether though, of course not. He had to keep the boy under his eye and make sure that he gets his task done. But to do avoid the boy's sight while keeping an eye on him was proven to be a challenging job.

It was bizarre, the things he did. Hiding behind bushes, under the tables, behind other humans, around the corners, in the roof and once even in the dust bin. His spiritual body was also quite helpful in hiding _inside_ the walls and retreating by going through the walls or ceilings to hide. It was also useful by allowing him to poke his head through the ceiling to sneak on Sora when he was in the roof…

Eventually he managed to convince himself that the things he was doing were awfully ridiculous and finally stopped. He told himself that Sora was _not_ able to see him and even if Sora could, it didn't matter to him. He was just doing his task. That was when he finally stopped doing trying to avoid Sora—which then led onto the younger brunette to actually _see_ him… And that led onto them talking to each other right now.

Terra stared at Sora for a moment, his thoughts circulating in his head. After a while, he shrugged as a reply. The younger brunette furrowed his eyebrows but he didn't press on.

"Anything else you want to ask?"

Sora's face lit up at this. There was something he had been meaning to ask. "Oh, actually—"

Suddenly, a vibration in Sora's pocket caused him to instantly flinch, and a loud tune soon followed it. It took him a moment to realise that it was merely his phone—it was ringing. He smiled apologetically to Terra before taking his phone out and scanning through the caller ID.

"Huh," he mumbled. _It's Riku. _His eyebrows then arched as he looked his phone confusedly. "Isn't he supposed to be having lessons?" Sora then shrugged and rejected the call, deciding that he'd call Riku back later. After all, it was rude to ignore Terra—especially when they were in a conversation.

"Not answering it?" Terra asked.

"Nah, I'm talking to you now. It'd be rude to." Sora gave the older brunette one of his usual grins. "Anyways, about what I wanted to ask…"

"Hmm?"

"Since you're my fate, do you know things like when I'm going to die and who I'm going to marry and stuff?" His eyes were shining with curiosity.

Terra kept quite for a moment, pursing his lips. "I can't answer that." As he watched Sora's face fall, he felt a pang of guilt. It wasn't like he was at fault or anything but to see such eyes filled with adventure and excitement; he didn't really feel right to let the boy down.

"Aww, why not?" the younger brunette asked, his curiosity still nagging at him.

Terra sighed. "If I knew and I told you, then you wouldn't get the thrill of finding out later in the future, right?"

"But—"

"I can't, Sora."

Sora's bottom lip jutted out a little as he lowered his gaze. Terra inwardly sighed when he saw the disappointment in the boy's face. It wasn't like he was close to Sora or anything but the boy seemed like a really nice, cheerful chap. He didn't like making the boy upset.

There was another momentary silence before the older brunette gave a soft chuckle. "You're pouting."

Sora looked up at this, alarmed. "I-I'm not!" he denied immediately, his face flushing.

"You were," Terra pointed out.

"I—I—" The boy with cinnamon spikes instantly lay on the sand and placed his arms over his face to cover it. He stopped trying to deny it, knowing it was true. Riku had told him many times that he pouted but he had denied it initially. It was until his best friend found it futile trying to debate with him and instead shoved a small mirror in his face when he was pouting when Sora realised that it was true. He had a tendency to pout—without even realising it. And it was in fact, bloody embarrassing.

Terra just stared at him for a moment, watching him desperately trying to hide his embarrassment. It was useless, though. Terra could clearly see the shade of red of Sora's ears even though he was covering his face. The older brunette chuckled inwardly at this before getting up from the sand. "We should get you somewhere warmer."

The younger brunette lifted his arm a little to look at Terra. The redness from his cheeks started to fade at the topic change. "Warmer?"

"Your knuckles are white," the older boy commented. "Doesn't seem like you're wearing much either. It's best to get you someplace warm before you get a cold."

Sora grinned as he completely removed his hands from his face and got up from the sand. His blush had completely faded. "Ah, I won't get a cold," he said confidently. "I rarely get colds." His eyes then narrowed and added, "Admittedly, Riku always says '_idiots don't get colds_'…" He gritted his teeth irritably in a playful way, thinking back at the times Riku had said those words.

Terra chuckled. "What if he was right?"

"Hey!" Sora yelled, sounding offended. "Whose side are you on here?" The older brunette merely chuckled in response. "Grr… Damn it, you and Riku both…"

"You're pouting again."

Sora's face flushed once more and his body tensed up. "I—I—" He immediately turned around to hide his embarrassment. He then started to walk away, ducking his head. "L-Let's just go. It's freezing." Terra chuckled but didn't say anything. If he could say anything for sure, it was that Sora was much more than he'd predicted. And that fulfilling his task was going to be interesting—or so he thought.

xooooxoooooxoooox

Come Thursday however, Sora's prediction had been wrong.

"Thirty-eight point five degrees," Reina mumbled as she looked at the thermometer. Sora stared at her with glazed eyes while he lay in his bed, his duvet covering him up to his chin. His face was flushed. His mother then lifted her gaze to meet his and she frowned. "I don't think you'll be going to school today, either," she said as she gently patted her son's head. "You've got a cold."

"A… Cold?" Sora mumbled, his voice hoarse.

"Seems like it."

There was a long silence as the boy with cinnamon spikes tried to progress this through his extremely tired brain. The first one to break the silence was a certain brunette who was older than Sora. Terra had broken out into a loud chuckle.

The redness on Sora's cheeks darkened as embarrassment swept over him. Terra was laughing because he was wrong about not getting a cold. And his confidence the day before just made things all worse. He pulled the duvet over his head to drown out Terra's chuckles and hide his embarrassment.

"Sora?" Reina called.

Terra was chuckling.

"Sora?"

Terra was_ still_ chuckling.

"So—"

_Damn it._

"Shut up!" Sora yelled as he jolted up into a sitting position on his bed, his duvet now on his lap. He glared at Terra who was leaning against the wall nearby his bedroom door, his eyes still glazed and his face extremely red from embarrassment.

Terra stopped but was still smiling. "Sorry," he said. "It was just ironic." The younger brunette was pouting now but Terra chose not to mention it, knowing that it would only embarrass the boy further. It wasn't a wise idea to get the boy worked up when he was sick, after all. "You should keep in mind of who is in the room when you talk, by the way." Terra gestured over to Sora's mother.

"Wha—" The younger brunette turned towards his mother, only to find that she was staring at him at a bewildered expression.

"She can't hear me," Terra said calmly. "She probably thinks you told _her_ to shut up."

"No!" Sora immediately protested. "I meant you!" When he saw his mother's eyes start to widen further, he looked at her helplessly. "No, mom, not you! I meant—argh!" He scratched his head nervously and sighed. "I—I… Sorry." He ducked his head.

Reina pursed her lips and gave her son a worried look. "It's alright," she said slowly. "Do you want to go to a doctor?"

He shook his head. "No," he sighed. "I'll just get some rest at home."

"Okay…" Reina said unsurely. "I'll go make you some porridge and I'll be back with some medicine." She kissed Sora's forehead and patted his hair gently before leaving the room.

There was a short silence after Reina left the room. Sora then resigned back to his bed, lying down on it, feeling a little better with his head on his pillow. His body felt extremely weak and his head was hurting. He didn't normally get colds and wasn't used to this sort of feeling. His entire body felt warm and despite of it, he didn't want to take his duvet off. He wasn't too sure when he'd start feeling better since he felt completely horrible now. There was something Sora was sure of, though, and that was that he definitely did _not_ like colds.

"Why do you get so embarrassed when you pout?" Terra asked suddenly. Sora turned to lie on his shoulder so that he could face the older brunette.

He furrowed his eyebrows and said, "It's not manly at all."

"Then why do you do it?"

"I don't do it consciously," Sora said defensively. "I don't seem to realise when I'm doing it either. It's not cool at all."

"Cool?" Terra asked, arching a perfect eyebrow.

"Cool, manly, whatever. It's just not something a guy should do."

"Hmm…" Terra mused.

There was another momentary silence.

"Well, about that cold of yours…" Terra began.

Sora interrupted him with a sulking tone. "I know, I know, I was wrong about not getting a cold."

Terra just smiled. "It's not that. It seems like you've proven Riku wrong."

"What?" _Riku _was wrong? What blasphemy was this about?

"You're not an idiot."

There was a short pause before Sora remembered their conversation the day before about idiots not getting colds. He then burst out laughing. "So I'm not," he said with a cheerful grin.

xooooxoooooxoooox

"Sora, honey!"

Sora stirred at the sound of his mother's voice. It was only when he got up that he realised that he was sleeping. He hadn't realised when he had nodded off; he just remembered eating the porridge his mother had given him and talking to Terra after… He sighed and shifted uncomfortable under his duvet. His body didn't feel much better and he still felt extremely warm. He shoved the duvet off his upper body and relaxed as he felt the colder air touch his skin. It felt good.

"Sora?" she called again. It sounded like her voice was coming from the stairs. Then, with a softer voice the brunette heard, "Sorry, he might be sleeping." It sounded like she was talking to someone else. He heard her footsteps approach his room and a knock on the door. "Sora, are you awake?"

"Yeah," he said weakly.

"Tidus is here to see you," she said as she opened the door. Behind her stood a tan boy with blonde hair wearing a high school uniform.

"Yo!" he said as he entered Sora's room, lifting his hand up in a gesture of greeting.

The brunette slowly lifted himself to sit up. "Tidus," he greeted.

"I'll go make some tea," Reina said with a smile before she shut the door behind her.

"Damn, Sora, you look like shit," the blonde boy said as he placed himself to sit on the floor, crossing his legs. There was a small coffee table between where Tidus sat and Sora's bed.

The brunette gave a dry laugh. "I'm not surprised. I feel horrible."

"You haven't been in class for two days now," Tidus commented. He and Sora were in the same year, same class. They were pretty close albeit not as close as Sora was with Riku. They would often goof out together during class hours but the brunette would go to have break and lunch with Riku and Alice most of the times.

"I'm sick," Sora said, rolling his eyes.

"Yeah, I realise."

"Did you come over to bring me homework or something?"

Tidus shook his head. "Nah, we haven't been doing much for the past few days. Everyone's been busy preparing for tomorrow night's Christmas party. So that means free periods and no homework." He gave a thumbs up.

"Oh yeah, we've got Christmas holidays starting next week," Sora recalled.

Tidus' expression changed to shock. "You—_You_ forgot that we have _holidays_?"

Sora narrowed his eyes. "Yeah." Tidus' shock was not surprising to him. He knew that it _was_ shocking that he had forgotten about the upcoming holidays. He _never_ forgot about holidays. He liked school, sure, but holidays were bliss to him. He loved them. The cheerful atmosphere floating in the airs, everyone excited for the holiday events… How had he forgotten about all of that? The answer was simple—Terra. And well, there was this horrid cold of his too. But it was mostly the unexpected appearance of his fate which, even though he didn't show it, had caused the natural flow of his life to be disrupted for a moment. He was sure that he'd get used to it. After all, he was one who could adjust well to changes.

But… Speaking of Terra, where was he?

Sora's eyes scanned his room quickly. No sign of Terra—again. Perhaps the older brunette had gone off to look at that balding tree or something. Not that it really mattered... He'd just see Terra later, then.

"Wow," Tidus said, drawing Sora out of his thoughts. "To forget the _holidays_. You must be completely knackered."

"Damn the cold," Sora said with a playful grin.

Tidus laughed. "Yeah! Nothing good comes from a cold."

"There is one thing, actually." A mischievous grin formed on Sora's lips.

The blonde boy raised his eyebrows at this. "You mean like being pampered?"

"Even better."

"Yeah? What is?"

"Do you remember how Riku always that I'm an idiot?"

Tidus frowned. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Idiots don't get colds, right?"

"Yeah, but—" Then, the blonde-headed boy's eyes widened—and his face lit up. "Oh!" he exclaimed when he finally got it. "You can shove in his face! Awesome!" He shot his arm into the air. Sora laughed cheerfully at this.

It wasn't much, really. It wasn't as if Riku had made such a huge blunder or anything but for Riku to _ever_ be wrong, now that was rare. Any opportunity to shove the fact that he had gotten something wrong in his face was going to be such fun to the both of them.

"You have to let me know how he reacts," Tidus cheered.

The brunette grinned. "Will do."

Tidus' eyes widened as he remembered something. "Oh, speaking of Riku…"

"Hmm?"

"He's been coming to class to look for you these two days."

Sora's eyes widened. "Really? Why?"

"The first day… He did say something about your scarf, I think."

"Ah, I left it at his house…"

"Mm, well, today he looked a bit worried though. Said you haven't been answering any of his calls or texts."

_Crap._ _I forgot about that._ "Oops," he chuckled awkwardly. "Slipped my mind."

The blonde-haired boy just shrugged. "It's not a big deal. Maybe you should just send him a text or something."

"Yeah, I probably should…"

There came a sudden knock from the door, causing both boys to turn their heads towards it. "Sora sweetie, I've got some tea." It was Reina.

"Oh, come in."

Reina entered and place the tray of green tea and Japanese cakes on the table. "You look a little better after talking to Tidus," she said with a smile.

"What can I say, Mrs. Takano? I just have that sort of charm," he said with a smirk. "Especially on Sora." His smirk was instantly wiped off his face when a pillow came flying at him. "Oof!" he yelped when it hit him.

"What do you mean especially on me, you git?" Sora laughed. "Don't make me sound like a queer."

Tidus took the pillow off his face and smirked playfully. "You know you want me," he said seductively.

There was an immediate silence between the three of them at the sound of Tidus' seductive voice. Then, they all burst out laughing. The first one to stop was Reina. "You boys, seriously," she sighed with a smile. "Don't get to heated up in here, alright?" she joked. "I'll be going down now."

By the time she had left the room, Sora and Tidus were still laughing. The two of them always had a tendency to act a little gay as a joke at times in front of a crowd but Tidus' seductive voice was as far as they had gone. And even then, Sora never expected Tidus to do that voice in front of his mother.

After a while, their laughter died out and they just sat in their positions, smiling. "So," Tidus began, "are you going to the Christmas party at school tomorrow night?"

"Don't know," Sora said as he stretched his arms. _Man, my muscles ache._ "I don't know if I'll feel well enough to go. Plus, I don't have a date."

"If it's about a date then don't worry about it! The seniors have done the party up in a cool way this year."

"What do you mean?"

"They're going to pair us up with others." Seeing the blank look on the brunette's face, Tidus knew he'd have to explain. "The people going as singles have to gather at outside the hall an hour before the party," he said. "They give you some time to buy your tickets in case you haven't bought one yet and they get everyone to write their names on a piece of paper. Apparently they'll be putting the boys' names into a box and the girls' names into a separate box. And each person will have to pick out a piece of paper from the boxes and the name you get will be your partner for the night—or well, something like that. They said that they'd explain it properly on the day itself."

"Huh," Sora mumbled. "That sounds pretty fun."

"It does, doesn't it?"

"Are you going single?"

Tidus laughed. "Sure, unless you want to go with me."

"Don't screw with me," Sora said with a grin and threw another pillow. The blonde boy caught it in time before it hit him. "What about Yuna?"

The blonde's face turned pink at that question. "It's not like I'm going out with her or anything."

"Sure you aren't," Sora scoffed. "But you like her don't you? Ask her out."

Tidus sighed. "Damn it, Sora, it's not that easy. I don't want her to turn me down."

"Then just ask her for the Christmas party."

"Nah, it's tomorrow. I don't want it to be so last minute. It's not romantic."

The blonde's friend started laughing. "Romantic? I didn't know you were into romance!"

"Sora, you're sick and all, but if you don't can it, I'll throw this pillow back at you."

The brunette went silent for a moment. "…That was an extremely lame threat," he said, stifling a laugh.

Tidus joined in. "I know. Anyways, I'm going single tomorrow night. If I'm lucky then I'll get paired with Yuna. If not, then…" He shrugged.

"Fine, fine," Sora said, resigning from trying to get Tidus to ask Yuna out.

"Besides, if I didn't go single, who would you hang out with?"

"There are many others to choose from," Sora replied playfully.

"If you mean Riku then he's out of the picture, isn't he? He's going with Alice, right?"

_Riku… And Alice…_ Sora's eyes darkened. _Of course they'd be going together…_

"Sora?" the blonde boy called when the brunette didn't reply.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. He should be."

"There you go."

Sora grinned playfully. "Of course I could still hang out with Hayner or something…"

Tidus sighed. "Sora, seriously, I'm not going to ask her out for tomorrow night."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Was just fooling around."

"So, are you coming then?"

"Hmm… Yeah, sure, why not?"

"Awesome!" Tidus cheered.

And so, Sora had decided to go to the Christmas party. It was not a big plan or anything, just a party. An event to enjoy the energetic, cheerful atmosphere of Christmas and the food that was prepared during the specific holiday. It wasn't much. Little did he know, however, that it was exactly this action which was going to make the wheels of fate start moving…

* * *

_And that's the end of this chapter! Do leave a review to let me know what you think of it! xD_


	5. Chapter 4

**Their Beginning**

It was 5:30 in the evening and the skies were already dark due to the winter weather, making the street lamps and house lights the only source of brightness for the people living in the small town located on Destiny Islands. Walking along Paopu Street were Sora and Tidus, wrapped in their warm coats and large boots, with Terra trailing behind them. They were heading towards their school for the Christmas party and as they walked, they chatted cheerfully about random things.

"So," Tidus was saying, "you weren't well enough to make it to school today but you've got _just about_ enough energy to go for the party, huh?" He gave a mischievous grin.

Sora laughed and gave his blond friend a light punch on the shoulder. "Shut up. I wasn't feeling well _this morning_, alright?"

"Mhmm…" Tidus mumbled in disbelief, his grin not fading. Sora narrowed his eyes at him, clearly not happy. Tidus just gave a laugh. "Don't worry, its fine," he said cheerfully. "We didn't do much today either; just party decorations again."

Sora's eyes widened as he realised what that meant. "Really?" he yelled in delight. "That means… No holiday homework?"

Tidus gave a grin. "Nope."

"Awesome!" Sora shot his arm upwards in the air, grinning. Tidus laughed at his friend's excitement, finding it mildly amusing on how the entire class had been rejoicing just a few hours ago and Sora was only doing so now.

They reached the school grounds a few minutes later. There was a crowd gathering outside the hall, everyone in formal wear, some getting tickets, some registering their names, some hanging their coats and many talking excitedly. Sora smiled, feeling the lively atmosphere already affecting his mood. Sora turned to Tidus to mention how cool it seemed to be, but he appeared to be distracted, a confused look on his face.

"What's wrong?" Sora asked.

"Nothing…" He mumbled as he shifted to look elsewhere, as if searching for something. "… Just trying to find out which booth has the boxes for pairing up the singles…"

After a few minutes, seeing that Tidus wasn't succeeding in doing so, Sora pointed at a black-haired girl sitting a booth. "Why don't we just ask her where it is?"

Tidus nodded. "Yeah, let's do that."

Sensing their approach, the girl looked up from a list she was looking at. "Hello," she greeted with a smile. "Need some help?"

"Ah, yeah, I was wondering; where do we write down our names to put into the box for singles?" Tidus gave a grin.

"Oh, sorry," she said. "We're actually using a bit of a different system for tonight—it was a last minute decision because of some complications."

"Oh," Tidus mumbled, his grin falling. "Uh, well. Then, what do we—?"

The girl's smile didn't falter. "Don't worry; we're still pairing the singles up. Do you have your party tickets?"

"Yeap! 'Sec, let me get them." Tidus started rummaging through his pockets and fished out two crumpled papers. "Mine and his," he said, gesturing at Sora.

The girl took the tickets and carefully unfolded them. "Here," she said, leaning towards Tidus to show him the ticket, pointing at the side. "There's a number at the edge of each ticket. Just go to that booth over there," she pointed at a booth which had a line of people behind it, "and register your names according to your ticket number. Your name will be called out later on when we're pairing people up. Oh, and we'll basically be arranging the numbers according to gender so when you're registering, you'll have to write your number on a piece of paper and then Jacques," she gestured at the person behind the booth, "will place it into the 'male' box. A number from the male and female boxes will each be drawn out later when pairing people up. It's pretty much random, just so you know."

"Great. Thanks." Tidus gave another grin and headed off to line up.

"Thanks!" Sora gave a grin at the girl before following Tidus.

It took a few minutes to get through the queue but it didn't feel too long since Tidus and Sora were cracking up lame jokes together. When they had finally reached the booth, Tidus registered his name first to the male student behind it. The guy was clearly older than the both of them—a third-year student, most likely.

"Alright," Jacques cheered. "Well, that's all you've got to do. We'll call out your number later for pairing up so just stand in front of the hall doors when it is, yeah? Just go inside once you've met up with your partner."

"Thanks," Tidus said with the same cheerful mood. Just as Sora was registering his name, the blonde exclaimed. "Ah! I see Selphie and Kairi!" He immediately started running off to go greet them. "I'll go say hello first, yeah Sora?"

"W-Wait, Tidus!" Sora yelled, "I'm only going to take a minute—" However, his friend was already gone. Sora sighed and just resumed registering his name, the senior in front of him chuckling in amusement.

Once he was done, he began searching for his classmate, however the blonde was nowhere in sight. "Damn it," Sora sighed, exasperated. "Oh well, I guess it's just you and me, Terra," he said, turning around to face the older brunette.

Except, Terra wasn't there.

Sora groaned. What was it with people just suddenly leaving him anyways?

He gave up and, with a sigh, went to just wait along with all the rest of the students for their names to be called. As he stood in the crowd of chattering people, his mind started to drift, his thoughts consuming him. However, this time, they weren't about literal fate or Terra. They were about Riku.

It was odd. He hadn't expected it to give him so much discomfort. Somehow the thought of Riku going to the Christmas party with Alice made him feel weird. And it was _merely_ them going to the party together. There was no reason for him to be all uncomfortable with it; it was just Riku going for a party with his girlfriend. That was all. It was just a date on Christmas Eve, basically. There was nothing abnormal about it. Not even the slightest.

_But it's Christmas._

_Riku's always spent Christmas with me…_

"Sora!"

The call broke him out of his thoughts and he turned towards the direction the voice came from. It was Tidus, who seemed to have magically reappeared by his side and was giving him a peculiar look for some odd reason.

"Tidus!" Sora exclaimed. "Geez, I was looking for you."

"Sorry, got sidetracked when talking to Selphie and Kairi," Tidus replied. "But hey, are you alright? I've been calling you for a while now."

"You have?" Sora was bewildered. He hadn't realised Tidus' presence. "S-Sorry, I was just—" He trailed off.

Tidus noticed his friend's eyes darken and decided to let it go. "That's enough day dreaming, Sora. They're going to start the pairing up now." He gave a cheerful wink at the young brunette.

Sora's face lit up. "It's finally starting!" he cheered. Sora loved parties. They were always fun with the air of excitement and cheerful people. Sora added a sly smile. "Do you think you'll be paired up with Yuna?"

Tidus' eyes widened at the question before he gave a sigh. "Give it a rest, Sora."

"Hey, you never know, right?"

Seeing Sora's face full of glee, Tidus didn't have the heart to tell him that Yuna hadn't been in the crowd of singles which had meant two things; she was either coming with someone to the Christmas party or not coming at all. Both verdicts weren't exactly favourable for the blond. "Yeah, I guess not," he said, giving a grin.

"Alright, the coupling session shall commence!" a voice called from a green-haired senior who was standing in front of the crowd. "Remember that this may be a great opportunity to get to know your partner! And who knows? Maybe many couples shall be born tonight! And their everlasting love shall last on for many Christmases to come and—"

As the Christmas party committee member continued talking, Sora and Tidus were snickering together.

"'Everlasting love?'" Tidus exclaimed softly.

"How cheesy can these guys get?" Sora laughed.

"They might as well make a guy grab a woman and say 'my sweet, little buttercup'!"

"O-Oh, god, my stomach hurts."

"These guys are hilarious!"

It took quite a while for their laughter to die out.

In fact, it only stopped when Sora's name was called out.

"Ticket number 075's Sora and 133's Kairi are the next pair! Please proceed to the entrance and enter the hall when you're both ready."

"Ah… Both Sora's and Tidus' laughter trailed off at the call of Sora's name, both removing their hands that were clutching their stomachs. It took a brief moment for Tidus to process exactly who Sora's partner was, delayed from all his cracking up, and when he finally did, his face lit up.

"Hey! You're partnered with Kairi!"

"Seems like it." Sora just smiled. He had never really been that close to Kairi. Not that they didn't get along or anything. In fact, he wasn't too sure whether they would or not. She was more of an acquaintance to him rather than anything else. He hadn't gotten the chance to actually talk to her much after her arrival on Destiny Islands about a decade ago. He had always been too busy playing outdoor games with Riku back then that he didn't see her very often. Plus, never once in all his years of schooling, had he ever been in the same class as her. He was aware that she was close to Tidus and Selphie, though. Perhaps even Wakka too, but Sora wasn't too sure. That was because Selphie was often in the same class as Kairi and since Tidus and Selphie, occasionally Wakka as well, hung out, it was no surprise that they were all pretty close.

"That's great!" Tidus exclaimed. "Kairi's cool. I'm sure you'll have fun."

"Yeah." Sora gave his friend a grin. "I'm off now!"

He headed through the crowds to drop off his coat at the hangers, then proceeded towards the hall entrance. However, something caught his eye, on the way—Terra. The older brunette was beside the green-haired senior Sora had seen earlier, seemingly observing the papers being drawn out from the boxes. _What was Terra doing there, anyways?_ Sora decided to ask later though, not wanting to make Kairi wait for too long. Sure enough, when he got to the hall entrance, the crimson-haired girl was already waiting. He approached her from behind and gave a greeting. "Hey, Kairi."

The girl spun to face him, and at that moment, Sora felt something inside him go weird. There was a sensation of butterflies in his stomach, the pace of his heartbeat increased, his face felt hot and his entire body went rigid. _Since when has Kairi been so… Pretty? _Mesmerized, he just stared.

"Hi Sora," she replied, smiling. Though the smile only made his face feel hotter, her words broke him out of his trance and he gave her an awkward grin.

"Umm, well, should we go inside?" His slight attempt at being just a bit polite made the awkwardness double up inside of him.

"Let's," she said, giving another smile, before entering along with Sora.

More people shuffled into the hall as time passed, the atmosphere becoming livelier as the numbers went up. Kairi and Sora spent their time talking to each other, both becoming less tense the more they chatted, both loosening up more. Tidus soon joined them along with Olette, whom he had been paired up with. To make their voices heard over all the music, they spoke relatively loudly, and they all felt the excitement of the party that was just officially starting.

"You know, I swear that Hayner's been glaring at me for a while now," Tidus said to Sora while Olette and Kairi were busy talking a short distance away.

Sora laughed. "Are you sure you're not imagining it?"

"I'm serious here!" Tidus complained. "And heck, I haven't done anything to him."

"Then maybe he's in a bad mood. Hayner gets like that sometimes," Sora assured.

"Well, if that's all then it's okay but…"

"God!" a voice that didn't belong to either of them exclaimed. "You two are really dense!"

Both Sora and Tidus turned towards the direction of where the voice came from and were surprised to find Selphie standing right beside them.

"Whoa!" Tidus yelled. "Selphie! When did you get here?"

"Just did, but that's not the point!" she huffed, crossing her arms. "You guys are dense! So _blur_!"

"What?" The blond was confused. "What are you even talking about? Why are you getting so worked up?"

"Because," she drawled, "you can't even figure out something so simple!"

"What is?" Sora asked, puzzled by Selphie's sudden attack of insults.

Selphie huffed again; obviously not pleased by the fact they hadn't figured out what she was on about yet. "I'm talking about Hayner getting mad at Tidus 'cause he's jealous, of course!" she hissed, lowering her voice.

"Jealous?" Tidus was bewildered.

"Of what?"

"Must be my ravishing looks." Tidus grinned.

"What looks?" Sora teased and received a light hit in response.

"Ooh… You two!" Selphie interjected and she pouted in frustration. "It's because he likes Olette! Geez!"

There was a momentary silence between the three of them until Tidus gave an outburst.

"What?" Heads from around the hall turned towards them at Tidus' yell and Selphie immediately hushed him, frantic.

Selphie glared at him. "Keep quiet! We don't need the whole world knowing about this." Tidus gave an apologetic look.

"How do _you_ know about this?" Sora intervened, his voice softer.

The girl just gave a shrug. "It's obvious. Plus girls have an eye for these things."

Tidus shook his head. "But man… He never even told us! And that Hayner, he—_wargh_!" He jumped backwards in shock at the sight of Olette and Kairi who had just come to their sides.

"O-Olette! Kairi!" Selphie exclaimed, going a little tense. "Hi!" she said, giving a cheerful grin, hoping that they hadn't heard their conversation—more like, hoping that _Olette_ hadn't heard it. Because if Olette did, Hayner would certainly kill her…

"What are you guys talking about?" Olette asked, an innocent smile on her face.

"We heard Tidus yell just now so…" Kairi added.

"I was just telling them how our class got no holiday homework so Tidus was surprised," Selphie quickly replied. "Right, Tidus?"

"O-Oh!" He instantly added, catching on. "Yeah! No homework, lucky for you guys! Right, Sora?" he laughed and subtly jabbed Sora's stomach, indicating that the brunette should help convince them.

However, this was not the brightest idea, for Sora, being the honest, straightforward and happy-go-lucky person he was, was absolutely terrible at lying. His entire body tensed up and he gave one of _the_ most abnormal laughs, followed by a stammered reply. "Y-Y-Yeah! Lu-Lucky!"

Both Selphie and Tidus mentally buried their face in their palms at Sora's failed attempt of lying. But still, they were determined not to let Olette find out, so they continued on with their façade.

"It's so unfair though!" Tidus sighed. "I'm kind of jealous."

Selphie laughed. "You should be! It's not every year these things happen."

Olette's eyebrows furrowed at them and she held a pensive expression. "But, Tidus," she said slowly, obviously confused about something. "Our class doesn't have any holiday homework either."

Both Tidus and Selphie froze on spot, like a pair of comedians in a show.

Well, fuck.

There was a moment of awkward silence before the blonde gave a stiff laugh. "Oh yeah! That's right! I completely forgot."

To his relief, Kairi broke the awkward mood by laughing too. "How did _you_ forget about such a thing?"

"Yeah!" Selphie joined in. "Are you sure you didn't hit your head somewhere?"

"I just forgot geez. Doesn't mean there's something wrong with me."

"I'm not too sure about that," Selphie smirked.

"Hey! I resent that!"

Their argument and teasing stopped when Olette gave a giggle and they all turned to face her. "You guys are funny," she said with a smile, completely oblivious of what was hidden behind all their acting. "Anyways, I want to go say hello to Hayner and Pence. Tidus, will you come with me?"

"O-Oh! Yeah, sure." The both of them headed off, leaving the other three. Sora and Selphie sighed in relief, glad that Olette hadn't seen through their awkward actions and speech to find that they were lying. Kairi stared at them in amusement.

"That was close!" Sephie said. "For a second I thought she was going to find out. Oh, Kairi, thank you so much for helping out!" Selphie squeezed her best friend with both glee and relief. "I'd better go make sure Tidus doesn't spill the beans though so I'll go check on them, see you!"

Then there were just two left. Kairi gave a light laugh. "What was all that about anyways?"

"Huh? Oh, we were trying to keep Olette from finding out what Hayner thinks about her," he explained. Her unsurprised expression made it obvious that she was already aware of it. There was a pause before Sora frowned, puzzled. "Wait, didn't you help us out because you knew what was going on?"

Kairi shook her head. "I knew that you guys were keeping something from Olette. You're pretty bad at lying though," she laughed.

Sora joined her laughter. "I know," he said. "That's what Riku always tells me. Also the reason why I can never keep anything from him."

"Riku…?"

"Ah, yeah! My best friend," he explained, smiling cheerfully.

"Mm, I've seen you with him a lot. The silver-haired guy, right?"

"Yeap! He's a nice guy. Fun to hang out with," Sora elaborated. "Although, he has his downsides too, you know. One thing is that he always beats me in everything."

Kairi laughed. "How is that a downside for him?"

"It isn't. It's a downside for me." Sora grinned. "Plus he's sarcastic sometimes, and moody and—"

"_Who's_ sarcastic and moody, huh?"

"Whoa!" Sora exclaimed as an arm hooked around his neck and his body was pulled backwards against a broader, firmer one. His hair was ruffled with a large hand that he had grown to know.

"Riku!"

Sora looked up and found Riku looking down at him with a slightly irritated face. That was the first thing he noticed—the expression. And that was followed by the fact that Riku's hair was tied up, something that was rarely seen. Then, slowly, he began to notice the _proximity_. His face flared up and his voice jammed up in his throat, his heart beating faster. Something about Riku was so breathtaking that it made Sora freeze.

That, and the fact he was _so damn close_.

Mistaking Sora's sudden silence as discomfort for being caught red-handed of talking about him behind his back, Riku gave a sigh. "I don't see you for two days and when I finally do, you're bad-mouthing me." He shook his head. "Really, Sora? Is that how you treat your _best friend_?"

Sora wasn't listening though. His head was spiralling from the dizzyingly strong scent of cologne that emanated from Riku's skin and the smell of mint from his breath. He could only see Riku's lips form sentences that he couldn't hear. Being so close made it so hard for Sora to think, and even then, the only thing he could think of was getting out of this position. He commanded his body to move but to no avail. It remained there, just stuck.

_Damn it._

As Sora still hadn't replied, Riku furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. Normally, Sora would've lashed out at him defensively by now. "Sora?"

There had to be something… Something… A trigger for his nerves to run again…

"Hey Sora!"

And there came the trigger.

It was Alice's voice that somehow broke him out of his trance and got Sora's body working again. He jerked out of Riku's arms with rapid speed and almost tumbled backwards when he lost his footing. Luckily Alice, who gave him a pat on his back, managed to help him from falling with disgrace. Sora gave a quick sigh of relief due to both the fact that he didn't fall and also that he was no longer in an awkward position. But despite being free from it, his heart was still racing and his face was flushed. He had to act normal. Normal…

He turned to face his saviour with a look of gratitude. "Ace!" Okay. So far so good. That was a usual greeting.

Not noticing Sora's odd behaviour, Alice just grinned excitedly. "How's the party so far? Did Riku and I miss anything?"

"N-No! You and R-Riku didn't miss much." Sora mentally slapped himself—his voice's pitch went high when he said Riku's name. So much for being _normal_. He paused and took a deep breath to calm himself. It helped. He felt a bit better. "The party's barely started," he continued. "I was just talking with Kairi," he said, gesturing at the crimson-haired girl who watched the three of them idly. "Kairi, this is Ace—Alice." The more he spoke, the more he calmed down. He then turned his gesture towards Riku. "And that's the git who always beats me at everything—the one I was telling you about."

"Hello," Kairi said politely with a smile.

Riku lightly whacked Sora's head before placing his arm over it and leaned on it, causing Sora to lurch downwards. "Hey," he greeted. "You're going to have to excuse him for all the nonsense he's told you about me—none of it's true."

"Wai—_Riku!_" Sora struggled underneath Riku's arm and head. "It's true! I didn't lie!"

"Sure you didn't," Riku smirked, not getting off. It was payback for the insults.

"_Riku!_"

Kairi giggled at the two, finding their relationship rather interesting. Alice laughed as well, before heading towards her and grasping both her hands, shaking them. "I'm Alice!" the blonde introduced, her blue eyes shining. "Your name is Kairi, right? It's nice to meet you!"

"It's nice to meet you too." Kairi smiled.

Beside them, Riku and Sora were still having a friendly squabble. Just as Alice was about to stop them, she was interrupted. "Knock it off, you two, it's—"

The music suddenly came to a stop.

"_Hey_ there everyone!" the DJ cheered into the microphone that was attached to his headphones; unaware that his loud voice was unnecessary when his voice was already being amplified through the stereos. Everyone's attention was instantly grabbed by him, and they turned to watch. "Seems like almost everyone's arrived by now! It's about time, yo!" He clapped his hands together, grinning. "Well! No point in wasting anymore so get yer partners and let's get this party started!" He shot his fist into the air excitedly and just on cue, lively music started blaring from the stereos. Most of the students cheered as well, all pumped up with adrenaline.

Sora was one of them.

"Yeah!" he yelled eagerly, suddenly getting enough energy to thrust Riku off him, and he threw his hands up happily, completely forgetting that he was in the middle of a playful argument with Riku.

Riku was taken off guard but he managed to prevent himself from toppling with his fast footwork. "Sora—"

"It's a party! Yeah! I'm going to dance!" Sora was clearly excited. Riku chuckled at his best friend, finding Sora's reaction entertaining to watch.

Catching Kairi's eyes which were gazing at him with amusement, Sora grinned. "Kairi! Let's dance!" Sora grabbed her hand and headed towards the dance floor where people had already started to gather. Kairi didn't protest; she just laughed, feeling the rush of excitement in her body with Sora's presence. He was so much fun to be with.

When they reached the dance floor, Sora abruptly came to a halt, his demeanour changing from ecstasy to apprehension. He fidgeted uncomfortably, his face slightly flushed. "Umm."

Kairi looked at him in confusion. What was with the change of mood? "What's wrong, Sora?"

"I'm actually not a very good dancer," he admitted sheepishly, dropping his gaze to the ground. Under normal circumstances, Sora would just dance without a care in the world, not paying any attention as to what others thought of his untrained dance moves. However, he had a partner with him this time and all the more it was a _girl._ Taking note from his past experiences with other females he had danced with before, they _never_ had fun dancing with him. They'd always either bury their faces in embarrassment or just break off the dance. Not wanting to make Kairi experience the same thing as the other girls, Sora suddenly felt hesitant.

Surprised that Sora unexpectedly cared about such aspects, Kairi's eyes widened before she laughed. Sora lifted his gaze at her with wide eyes at her laughter. "It's okay if you don't want—"

Kairi cut him off before he managed to finish his sentence. "It doesn't matter," she said, smiling when her laughter subsided. "Let's just have fun, Sora." When the brunette didn't reply and just stared at her blankly, she gave a sigh. "Show me what you've got," she taunted, grinning.

Instantly, Sora's worries were forgotten and he broke into a grin. "Yeah!"

So dance, they did.

However, it wasn't a smooth dance—that was for sure. Lacking both skill and practice in dance, Sora just went free-style and Kairi who was enjoying the exhilarating atmosphere and joy Sora emitted by himself alone, joined him in his bizarre-like dance whole-heartedly. It wasn't like Sora was an utterly horrific dancer that made himself look like a complete fool per se, but to claim that he was a good dancer wouldn't be exactly true either. If it had to be described in one word then Sora's dance would most definitely be… Unique.

And 'unique' wasn't what most females who cared about standings liked. They always wanted suave, dashing men who were amazing dancers to be their partners to make the others glance in envy. Quite obviously, Sora wasn't exactly one of those courteous, skilled men. Thus the reason why Sora had never quite gotten positive response for his not-so-charming dance style.

Kairi was a different case though. Unaffected by the pressure of maintaining a good reputation that most teenage girls had as she didn't care about such things, she was having a great time mimicking the random dance moves Sora came up with on the spot. With Kairi's easygoingness, the brunette found himself having an amazingly fun time too. They stumbled, talked and laughed while dancing to the upbeat music until finally, exhausted, they decided to take a break.

They resigned themselves at one corner of the hall and leaned against the wall. The cool touch of the wall felt good—they were both perspiring a little, their bodies a bit warm from all the dancing. Kairi smiled at him. "That was fun," she said.

"Yeah!" Sora agreed. "Tiring though."

Kairi laughed. "It was. Your dance moves were quite extreme!"

Sora gave a cheeky grin. "Normal dance moves are no fun." Not that he really knew any…

The red-head giggled at that statement. "I'm going to get some punch," she informed him. All that dancing had made her thirsty. "Would you like some?"

"Oh! Ah, no, I'm alright, thanks. Would you like me to come with you?"

"No, its okay," she replied, not wanting to trouble Sora who was obviously tired. "I'll be back in a short while."

Realising her consideration, the brunette gave her a smile. "Thanks Kairi." The girl returned his smile before heading off.

Alone now, Sora let out a large huff of air, beat. He found that it was odd; generally he wouldn't feel drained after that amount of body movement and yet somehow today he just didn't have the usual amount of energy that he always did. Maybe it was because his body was still recovering, he mused. In fact, it probably wasn't the wisest idea to be using all of his muscles in one go as he had just barely gotten better from his fever but then again, Sora had never been the most rational person.

Judging from the crowd in the hall, the brunette knew that it would take the girl some time to get back and therefore just relaxed, shutting his eyes while he leaned against the cool concrete behind him. The party had just only officially started about thirty minutes ago, and yet, Sora found that he was having an unexpectedly great time with Kairi as his partner. Not only was she really nice and laid-back, she was really easy to get along with. From what he had gathered from all their talking, they seemed to share quite similar views and interests. Well, not as much as he and Riku had in terms of games and stuff, Sora thought, but they were both guys so that was a completely different story.

With Kairi… Somehow, it just… Clicked.

Just like that.

It was almost mysterious how they got along well so quickly. The brunette just couldn't help but wonder why they hadn't gotten to know each other like this earlier. They'd definitely have become friends instantly like they just did.

Sora chuckled to himself at the thought. _Oh well. I guess it's good that we got partnered up tonight._

"Oh?" a voice started, "Laughing by yourself? I think that's one of the steps to insanity, Sora."

The brunette lifted his eyelids and gave a grimace. Leave it to Riku to catch him doing odd things. "It was a funny thought," he countered.

Riku smirked before he came to halt from walking right in front of his best friend. "Is that so?" he asked, his tone purposely one of disbelief.

"It was," Sora insisted, giving a playful jab to Riku's abdomen. He missed, the silver-haired boy smoothly evading his hand. The brunette furrowed his eyebrows in frustration, causing Riku to chuckle.

"Nice moves out there," Riku commented, changing the subject. His best friend right away knew that he was referring to the dancing.

"Thanks!" Sora beamed. His grin gradually faded when he saw the twinkle of humour in those sea-green eyes, the real meaning dawning on him. "You're being sarcastic."

"No, of course not," Riku said seriously. But the corners of his mouth twitched, giving him away.

The brunette creased his eyebrows and went for another jab at Riku's abdomen. Make that several. "Riku!" The silver-haired second-year gave an outburst of laughter as he took a few hits of the jabs, unable to dodge them all with the distraction of images of Sora dancing in his head. Sora scowled at the teasing. It took a while for him to calm down and stop his attacks. When he did, he crossed his arms and avoided his best friend's gaze, sulking.

Riku was enjoying himself. God, teasing Sora never got old. "Come on Sora, I'm just joking."

Determined not to give in, Sora didn't reply.

The silver-haired boy just sighed, a smile still on his lips. Well, if he wasn't going to talk, Riku was just going to have to make him. "You're pouting."

It was a lie, actually. Nevertheless, that definitely got Sora's attention and his entire face flared up before he turned to Riku with a bewildered expression. "I'm not!" he protested in embarrassment. Riku laughed again and that just made him feel mortified. "Riku!"

"Sorry, sorry, it's just really entertaining, you know?"

"Hey!" Sora yelled as Riku ruffled his hair.

Squinting as his hair got ruffled, Sora's eyes drifted to Riku's body and he noticed something—Riku's clothes looked as neat as they did when he had first come. Completely forgetting about their squabble, the brunette gave a confused look. "Didn't you dance?"

Riku's eyes widened. Sora's short attention span when it came to arguments never ceased to amaze him. He just shrugged in response to his best friend's question. "No."

"What? What's the point of coming to a party without dancing?"

"Can't be bothered," he said, waving his hand dismissively.

Sora was appalled. "You have to!"

"I do?" His voice was monotone.

"Yeah!" Sora had his arms crossed now and Riku knew that the brunette wasn't going to let this go anymore. He sighed, shutting his eyes. This was going to take some convincing to do.

"Look, Sora—" he suddenly halted midway as a thought came into his mind. He opened his eyes and dropped his gaze to his watch, checking the time. His lips slowly formed into a mischievous smile at the idea and lifted his gaze to meet with Sora's. "Fine," he said slowly, the smile still playing on his lips. "Then you're going to have to make me."

Sora couldn't follow. "What do you mean?" he questioned, furrowing his eyebrows.

"You have to dance with me." Riku smirked.

"Oh…" Sora's face fell. "Kairi's supposed to come back anytime soon, I can't just leave her."

"Don't worry, she's busy with Alice," he said, gesturing towards the food table where Alice was chattering to Kairi gleefully. "Seems like she's caught Alice's interest."

"Ah…" Sora just gazed at them, understanding the situation. If Kairi had caught Alice's eye then she'd probably be stuck there for quite a while…

"So? Shall we dance?"

"Okay!" Sora instantly agreed and broke into a grin, glad that he had managed to convince Riku to dance. After all, it was a party! Sora couldn't comprehend why _anyone _would refuse to dance at a party. In addition, out of all people, he'd be able to see _Riku_ dancing to _hip hop_ music. He inwardly snickered to himself. This was going to be interesting.

Sora strode past Riku and turned around, outstretching a hand for his best friend to take and grinned cheerfully. Riku chuckled in amusement before taking the brunette's hand. Sora was so _gullible_. _This_ was going to be interesting.

However, when they finally got to the dance floor, Riku just stood idly and gazed at his watch. Sora looked at him in confusion. "Riku…?" No response came. The green-eyed boy just continued looking at the device, not averting his eyes from it. "Riku, aren't we supposed to dance?"

Finally, Riku lifted his eyes to meet with Sora's, and as if on cue, the cheerful, lively music changed to a more mellow, relaxed one—it was the music for the slow dance. He gave the brunette a half-smile, half-smirk. "Yes, we are." Without wasting a second, he grabbed Sora's left hand with his right one, held the younger boy's waist with his other and began to dance, his footwork graceful and accurate.

"Whoa!" Sora yelped and glanced down at his feet. It took all his concentration to instantly adapt his own steps to match Riku's pace in order to prevent himself from stumbling due to the sudden jerk. As soon as he was steady, he looked up and scowled at his best friend. "How did you know?"

"Know what?" Sora narrowed his eyes, aware that Riku was feigning ignorance.

"That the DJ was going to change the type of music!" He was frustrated by the fact his plan of getting to see Riku dance to a fast-paced song hadn't worked.

Riku shrugged, a smug smile on his face. "Who knows?" Sora just gave an unsatisfied look. "At least I'm dancing, right?"

Sora's stopped scowling and he drifted his gaze elsewhere. "That's true, but…"

_Ah, he's pouting now,_ Riku noted. He didn't say anything though, not wanting to agitate the other boy. Silence followed between the two as they just danced peacefully, following the slow tempo of the music.

Somehow, Sora found himself feeling incredibly comfortable, the tranquil atmosphere and fluid movements making him at ease, despite the fact he was doing something as abnormal as dancing with_ another_ _guy_. Maybe it was because he was with Riku, he mused. For some odd reason, Riku's presence tended to put him into a relaxed state. Well, most times anyways. Recently his ease had been disrupted but Sora couldn't fathom as to why…

The tranquillity between them lasted for a few more minutes; that is, until Sora started to realise something and thus broke the silence. "Another thing…"

"Hmm?" Riku focused his gaze on the brunette. "What?" Riku tilted his head to the side. "Don't like dancing with another guy?"

Sora shook his head. "No, it's not that. But… Why…"

"Hmm?"

Sora's glare returned and he directed it at his cunning best friend. "Why am _I _the girl?"

Riku blinked. It took a few seconds for him to register what Sora had meant by that misleading sentence and when he did, it took all his willpower to suppress himself from bursting out laughing. The suppression was almost pointless though for his body blatantly shook as he let out soundless chuckles. To think that Sora wasn't irked by dancing with another guy and yet he was worried by _that_…

"It's _not_ funny!"

The chuckles died out steadily and Riku gave an apologetic look. "Sorry, it's just—Sora, you really are amusing."

"Don't change the subject!" Sora protested.

Riku gave a rare grin. "I didn't mean to. Anyways, the answer to your question, Sora," he said as he tightened his grip on Sora's hand and waist, "is because..." He added a swift spin to the dance and held the brunette carefully, guiding him. Sora complied to his guidance, following his lead. "I'm a better lead. And _guys_ always take the lead." He smirked. "Satisfied?"

"I can lead too!" Riku merely chuckled in response. Determined on convincing his best friend that it was true, Sora decided to speak up for himself. However, he was interrupted before he even managed to start.

"Hey! It's Sora and Riku!" Both heads—silver and brown—turned towards the direction of the exclamation and their dance came to steady halt.

Just outside of the dance floor were Tidus and Olette standing side by side, watching the two best friends with interest. "Tidus!" Sora grinned, released Riku and turned to face the both of them properly.

The Tidus' amused expression was deliberately changed into a frown. "Sora," he said, his tone lowered to make him seem serious. He crossed his arms and huffed. "I can't believe you're cheating on me!" He pointed at the silver-haired boy accusingly.

"What—?" Riku's eyes widened, puzzled.

It took a few seconds for Sora to finally get that Tidus was referring to the joke that both he and the Tidus were together. They usually only played their roles of 'affection' in class and therefore it wasn't surprising that Riku was clueless as to what was going on. The brunette laughed aloud at Tidus' accusation.

"And it's okay that you're dancing with Olette?"

"Olette's a girl! Tidus rolled his eyes. "Riku is a _guy_!" he exclaimed, sounding appalled. "_I'm_ supposed to be your gay partner!"

Riku's eyes widened further, his expression clearly one of shock and confusion. Olette just giggled on the sidelines, completely aware of what their little squabble was about and watched with interest. Having been in the same class as Tidus and Sora for the year, she'd always enjoyed watching their little acts, finding them intriguing compared to the mundane times they had during classes.

Riku, on the other hand, was clearly not amused.

Since when had _Sora_ and _Tidus _been—?

Noticing Riku's inner turmoil, Tidus grinned mischievously. "Sora, baby, if it's a matter of a male partner, you're supposed to be dancing with me," he said in his most suave tone and pulled the brunette by the waist to gently clash on his side. Sora flinched, unused to the close contact but just brushed it off and laughed when he saw Tidus' playful face.

The corners of Tidus mouth were twitching uncontrollably. Looking at Riku's face, he wasn't sure he could continue the act much longer.

Riku wasn't looking at them with anger or sadness or his normal smirk. It was blatant shock and he looked completely freaked out.

Tidus' body trembled as he held in his laughter.

"Sora," Riku breathed, finally finding his voice.

"Hm?" Sora turned his gaze towards Riku, unaware that his best friend had gone completely rigid.

"You and Tidus—" There was a pause. "H-How long?" was all he managed.

Thinking that Riku was referring to when they'd both started their homo-act, Sora gave a hearty laugh. "Since the start of the year, of course!"

At the sight of Riku's following expression, Tidus couldn't take it anymore. He burst out laughing and clutched his stomach with both arms. The pair of best friends looked at him in bewilderment while Olette continued giggling. "O-Oh god," he gasped, "I'm tearing."

"What's _he_ laughing about?" Riku asked Sora and the brunette shrugged, unsure.

"R-Riku," Tidus breathed in between his laughter. "We're not serious—it's a joke."

The light dawned in his sea-green eyes in realisation. He then glared at the brunette. "You were screwing me."

"W-What?" Sora put his hands up in the air as a sign of innocence. "I-I thought you knew!" he protested.

"Mhmm." Riku was unconvinced. He approached Sora with a dark smirk and the brunette backed up cautiously. He knew what that smirk meant;

Knuckle ruffle_. On his head. _

"R-Ri—Don't—"

"Ah!" a voice suddenly interrupted. "Riku!" Sora mentally thanked his saviour.

It was Alice once again. She was on the dance floor, holding both Kairi's hands. By the looks of it, they were dancing together. Or well, they had been. They seemed to have come to a stop when the blonde-haired girl noticed her boyfriend.

"I was looking for you everywhere!" she said and released the red-haired girl's hands. "I couldn't find you so I started dancing with Kairi." Sora suddenly felt bad. Kairi had most probably been dragged along with Alice's pace. Perhaps he should've helped her out…

"You were talking with her so I went to walk around," Riku replied simply. "Did you want something?"

Sora mentally slapped his forehead. Riku was never quite the gentleman when it came to his girlfriends.

_Rikuuuuu! She's your _date_! Geez._

Talk about being cold. Riku had to be frozen or something.

However, Alice was unfazed and she gave an excited smile. "Riku, I know you don't enjoy dancing but… Can we dance together?"

"I'll pass."

"Aww," Alice looked disappointed. "Please? Just one dance!" she insisted.

"I'd rather not." Riku looked bored.

"Come on, Riku," Tidus intervened. "If you can dance with my not-so-cute gay partner then you can dance with your gorgeous girlfriend."

"Hey!" Sora retorted. "Don't make it sound like I _want_ to be called cute!"

Alice looked surprised. "You both danced together?"

"Uh, yeah, well, about that—" Sora tried explaining but Alice interrupted him.

"That's nice," she giggled and gave a smile. Her smile was so genuine that Sora felt guilty somehow even though he wasn't too sure why. It didn't seem fair that he got to dance with Riku when his girlfriend didn't.

"Riku, go and show Ace your amazing leading skills," Sora urged after a moment. "It'll work out better with an actual _female._"

The boy with sea-green eyes sighed. "Fine," he finally gave in. "Alice," he said quietly and held out a hand for her.

Alice's eyes brightened instantly and she took the silver-haired boy's hand excitedly. "Mm!"

They both disappeared in the crowd of dancing couples, leaving the other four.

"Well, we'd better go too." Tidus said and gave a wave to both Kairi and Sora before heading off to dance with Olette.

It was just the two of them again. Sora and Kairi continued talking to each other, filling one another in on what happened during the time of their absences and then continued to talk about random things—school, family, etc.

Time passed, and when it was nearly time for the even to end, an emcee went up on stage, announcing that he'd call out the names of the winners of the night.

"Winners for what?" Sora asked the red-haired girl.

"Oh, it's for the voting of titles." When all Sora gave her was a blank look, she giggled and explained. "Titles like best-dressed, best-couple and stuff."

"Oh!" The brunette creased his eyebrows. "I don't remember voting for anything." Kairi laughed.

"You were supposed to do so at the corner of the hall before 10. There's a booth there. Didn't Tidus tell you?"

"No… Oh well." Sora just shrugged. He wasn't into these sorts of things anyways. He was about to ask Kairi if she had voted but the emcee resumed talking and Kairi turned her attention towards the stage.

"And so, the winners are...!" The hall fell into silence, students waiting eagerly to hear the results. "For best-dressed male… Class 3-B's…"

Sora tuned out, not particularly interested. Most of the winners were seniors he hadn't met before and it wasn't much fun when they weren't people he knew. Plus he wasn't really interested in clothing so what the best-dressed people wore didn't matter to him either. There was something that _did_ trigger his interest. His ears perked up and eyes widened when he heard the names of two people he was close with.

"…Riku and Alice win for… Best Couple!"

The hall filled with cheering and spot lights fell on the couple as they ascended to the stage and received a small gift. Alice looked surprised but extremely happy and she smiled widely at her boyfriend who gave a sweet, caring smile back. Random students started whistling and the crowd chanted for them to kiss.

"Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!"

Sora just stared.

_When did Riku _ever_ smile like that?_

"Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!"

Alice was flustered as the crowd continued chanting. She looked almost at a loss at what to do. Her cheeks were red and her blue eyes glazed.

"Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!"

Riku started to lean in and the crowd chanted even louder and faster. Everything seemed to happen so quickly in Sora's eyes.

"_Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!_"

Their lips touched and the hall erupted with cheers of joy.

However, Sora couldn't hear the deafening sounds of cheers. He just remained frozen as everything else seemed to tune out in his mind, his focus only on the couple on stage. With an expressionless face, he watched them silently with clouded eyes as he unconsciously clenched his fists.

Just like the rest of the crowd, Sora was supposed to feel happy for his best friend.

Then what was this aching sensation he felt instead?

* * *

_I apologise for the super long delay for this chapter! I had major exams the end of last year and didn't quite have the time to update. Anyways, it's finally up. Hopefully I'll get to update the next chapter at a better pace. xD Hope you guys enjoy it! Do leave a review to let me know what you think._

_Also, I'd like to mention a huge thanks to **muertz **who beta-read this chapter! Thanks loads! xD_


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